Hopefully this issue of Endocrine News will find you fully thawed out from the winter that stuck around like an unwanted houseguest. This is my debut issue as the magazine’s Managing Editor and I think we’ve got a nice array of topics to keep you eagerly turning the pages.
Our cover story, “Th e Cost of Making Babies,” touches on an important area of endocrinology and one that has become more and more controversial as its popularity has increased: fertility. With IVF and other procedures costing anywhere from $10,000 to over $100,000, the science of fertility has become a multi-billion dollar business. And since insurance companies rarely cover these procedures, many hopeful parents are squandering their nest eggs to pay for them. Th e article delves into the murkier aspects of the fertilization business where success rates are sometimes questionable, yet the prices are out of reach for many infertile couples (page 14).
“Going Paperless” touches on the same issue affecting physicians that’s affecting all professions across the board: getting rid of paper records and switching to electronic formats. While smaller practices have concerns about the cost, switching to electronic health records (EHR) is defi nitely the direction the process is headed. However, like everything that surrounds adopting technology the concerns about a number of “what ifs” abound: return on investment, technical glitches, patient privacy, etc. Ultimately, physicians need to fi nd a way to get actively involved and have a voice in the product development so that many of these issues are eliminated – or at least reduced – with a single, standardized system (page 20).
Another article that explores new technology is the Practice Resources column, which concerns mobile devices that deliver data from patient to doctor in real time. Writer John Bohannon discusses his own father’s struggle with diabetes and the constant need to measure his blood sugar. Despite the advances in technology and how easy the measurements and communication become, it is still up to the patient to use the product effectively, and that may be the real challenge (page 26).
If you have any comments or suggestions, please feel free to reach out to me at [email protected].
Mark A. Newman
Managing Editor
, Endocrine News
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