Modern Healthcare, like the industry it covers, has acquired a faster editorial pace and complexity in the past 25 years.
Long gone are the relatively sleepy tones of its predecessor publication, Modern Hospital. The new enterprise bustles with the activity of a weekly business news magazine and daily updates delivered electronically.
When Crain Communications assumed ownership of Modern Healthcare in 1976, the magazine was published monthly and the full-time editorial staff numbered about eight. Today, the publication employs nearly 30 reporters, editors, graphics editors and editorial assistants.
Over the years, the frequency of the magazine increased from monthly to biweekly until, in 1988, it reached weekly. The last step was taken against the advice of some healthcare industry executives, who feared they would not have the time to absorb more news. That concern, happily, proved to be short-lived, as readers hungrily pored over each new issue.
Today, executives snap up not only the weekly product but the electronic Modern Healthcare Daily Dose as well. The Dose is the successor to Modern Healthcare's Daily Fax, which was started in the early 1990s to supply subscribers with an up-to-the-minute briefing. News also is posted on the magazine's Web site, another '90s innovation. We are gathering that news through an ever-wider net. Our reporters keep in contact with legions of industry executives and healthcare policymakers around the country. In addition to the main office in Chicago, the magazine maintains bureaus in Washington, New York and Los Angeles. We also use the resources of the Associated Press, our sister publications at Crain Communications and other business wires.
And to help present that information, Modern Healthcare has steadily increased its use of statistical charts, graphics and news photos. All in all, we believe the magazine is unmatched in its timeliness and scope of coverage.
Although many aspects of our work have changed during the past 25 years, a few key elements remain fixed. One is the devotion of the editorial staff to covering the news and issues of importance to the industry. The means by which we do our work may vary, but the end of serving the reader stays the same. And to that end, Modern Healthcare's editorial staff carries on the Crain tradition of independence: Our news judgment and commentary are not dictated by advertisers or industry VIPs.
