This special medical edition of Ingram’s covers quality of care from all sides. At one end of the spectrum are doctors like Dr. Michael Swango and pharmacists like Robert Courtney, who allegedly destroy human life with great deliberation. At the other end are doctors such as the ones Ingram’s honors in its 2001 Class of Top Doctors in Kansas City—doctors recognized by peers and patients alike not only for their extraordinary accomplishments, but for their incredible compassion.
One of our articles puts into historical perspective how far medical science has come in terms of regulating human testing, while another about bioinformatics points the way to a brave new world where human testing will become unnecessary, or at least less risky. A profile of the new University of Missouri Life Sciences Center covers over a century of advances made in institutional research while pointing to the space-age progress yet to come. NASA’s support of a life-sciences center seems somehow appropriate for the year 2001.
But much of the edition comes back to money, whether it’s contention over the use of funds in the Missouri Tobacco Settlement, suggestions for covering the projected shortfall in Medicare, or an exploration of ways in which employers and employees can work together to improve the bang they get for their insurance buck. Of course, the managed health-care plans are always a hot topic, and Missouri Senator Jean Carnahan and Catherine Edwards, executive director of the Missouri Association of Health Plans, square off in “Pro & Con” over the pending Patients’ Bill of Rights.
Ingram’s is fortunate this month to have so many people so highly respected in their fields to help educate us about the ever-evolving industry of medicine.