EDITOR'S LETTER

Adios, Amigos

It's has been a long, strange year, and it’s hard to believe that it’s almost over. It’s hard to believe an incumbent could carry the Texas governorship with only 39 percent of the vote, but then, it has been that

kind of year.

We leave 2006 behind on the cusp of change. For the first time in twelve years, there is now a Democratic majority in Congress. Which means your campaign contributions will have to start going to some of those guys if you wish to have a voice. It’s worth noting here; 73 percent of AMA campaign donations during the election went to Republican candidates (although, of course, Texas remains largely red).

More likely than not, as you are reading this, you are fuming with frustration with the non-action of the lame duck congressional session – any movement on physician reimbursements, which now stand at an across-the-board 5 percent reduction, seems more likely to happen in the 110th Congress rather than in the waning

days of the 109th. Out with a whimper rather than a bang, it seems – though there are always surprises.

“Democrats won’t allow anything to pass they don’t like, and Republicans have little interest in starting the Democratic reign early,” said Thomas Mann, a congressional scholar at the centrist Brookings Institution think tank in Washington. So it again falls to the white coats to muster up support and to petition the new

guard. Pack some warm clothes, because that chilling wind of reductions begins to blow in on January 1.

Speaking of reductions, as of January some of you won’t be getting DOCTalk anymore.

No, we are not shutting down. We are moving forward. After four-and-a-half years of providing the best coverage of healthcare policy in the state, DOCTalk is finally moving to a subscription-only model. Why the change? Frankly, it was long overdue. We’ve had solid advertiser support over the years, but we got to the point of diminishing returns. We want to continue to grow DOCTalk, as evidenced by the changes and expansion we’ve undergone.

But that’s just a taste of things to come. With the legislative session just around the corner and new leadership in Washington, the new era of DOCTalk promises to be the most intense and vital of all.

Don’t let yourself get cut out of the loop--if you find DOCTalk to be the valuable resource we all believe it to be, then subscribe immediately so you won’t miss a single issue. In 2007, DOCTalk will be a more important publication than ever before.

For the rest of you, it’s been fun—and adios.

Phillip Lozano

Managing Editor

EDITOR’S LETTER