Healthcare Financial Management: The why, what, and how of hfm magazine: in a few minutes, I'm off t

Preparing for this meeting is always an occasion to reflect on why we publish the magazine, what we publish in the magazine, and how the magazine is created.

Why. Like HFMA, hfm magazine exists to help members and others improve the business performance of their organizations. The feature articles we publish cannot be just interesting or clever or factual or timely. Each feature must convey strategies or actions that readers can use to make their healthcare organizations more successful.

What. That why has strong implications for what we publish. Most of our articles present action steps readers can take to achieve specific business goals. Such articles require succinct statements of purpose and context, clearly explained steps, examples, and results. Even our more theoretical articles--say, Paul O'Neill's "What Health Care Can Be"--contain action steps for healthcare financial leaders.

How. It's easy enough to state a magazine's purpose and some ideal qualities for its articles. What's difficult is putting those into practice every day for every article.

At hfm magazine, that means analyzing HFMA's member needs survey results to ensure we're covering the topics of keenest interest to different segments of our readers.

It means pushing the profession by identifying business needs and solutions that go beyond what our members have identified as their top interests.

It means identifying the leading thinkers on each topic and inviting them to write for us.

It means spending hours in phone calls, meetings, and e mail exchanges with prospective authors educating them about our readers and the types of articles that resonate with them, and exploring the best angle for an article.

It means having manuscripts reviewed by experts in the field and then working with authors to incorporate reviewer suggestions.

It means editing not just for correct grammar, but also to give an article the clearest logic, the most relevant information, the most engaging prose, and the most effective use of charts and graphs.

And it means constantly keeping an ear to the ground for upcoming challenges and innovative strategies that we can cover in future issues of the magazine.

Judging from your response, the effort is paying off. Our reader surveys tell us you're very satisfied with the magazine. And at HFMA's recent Annual National Institute in Las Vegas, many people told me they read the magazine cover to cover and feel it is constantly improving. (One afternoon, I was surprised to step onto an elevator and hear people discussing an article from a recent issue. Remember, this was Las Vegas--a more common topic for elevator discussion might have been blackjack strategy.)

Thanks to all of you who participate in our magazine by writing, reviewing, and reading. Now I'd better dash off to the meeting. A group of editors is waiting to pounce on the editorial calendar and start acquiring new articles.

LET US KNOW

Send your comments or questions about HFMA publications to rfromberg@hfma.org.