Cheryl Proval

Change does not happen unless it is forced; I know there is a law of physics that describes this phenomenon, and whatever it is, it applies most profoundly to people.

Just as water needs heat to become steam, we probably would still look the same way we did last month if our commander in chief had not issued a directive for a complete redesign to be realized within the space of 2 months. But he did, and, as you can see, we are brand new.

Clichés aside, synergies likewise do not occur naturally, so it was in response to another directive for a total reorganization that Andi Lucas, editor of our sister publication Medical Imaging and now also editor of Imaging Economics, and I, now editorial director of both publications, came to be a team in the production of these two trade magazines with more than 40 years of readership between them.

I have not figured out whether this was a clever scheme to get twice the work from both of us or a stroke of genius that has forced us to more tightly focus the lens on both books to bring you, the reader, only that information relevant to our respective realms of business (Imaging Economics) and technology (Medical Imaging). Information overload is a burgeoning problem in radiology and 21st-century life in general. Therefore, we tried to be scrupulous in including only what a radiologist, radiology administrator, or health care executive would need to know about imaging economics.

It has been an interesting and I hope successful collaboration in the rethinking of both magazines, and we owe much to our talented art director Patrick Walling and our new group publisher Joanne Melton. I will be sitting beside my e-mail box waiting to read your comments, and I urge you to tell us what you like and what you do not like, now, please, before we get too comfortable and set in our ways. Remember, it took us nearly 20 years for a complete overhaul: change is an opportunity.

Finally, we have lost something in this transition and it is something big: the word "decisions" has been removed from our title, and now we are, simply, Imaging Economics. Many times I have listened patiently as a reader or a vendor struggled with the tongue-twister that used to be our full name, so, I say, good riddance! Neither will I miss our former acronym, the imperative DIE. However, rest assured that the word "decisions" will remain alive in the mission of this magazine to supply you with only that information critical to the successful operation of a radiology service in a health care enterprise.

I hope you enjoy the new read.

Cheryl Proval
Editorial Director