Editor-in-Chief, Chester 'Trip' Buckenmaier III, MD
COL, MC, USA
It is my honor and pleasure to welcome U.S. Medicine readers to This Year in Federal Medicine: Outlook 2011. I joined the staff of U.S. Medicine in 2010 and have thoroughly enjoyed the balanced, objective reporting on topics of interest to federal medical providers that U.S. Medicine is known for. In an effort to better serve our readership during these turbulent times of ongoing conflict, historic healthcare legislation, and shrinking budgets, U.S. Medicine has created an editorial board of federal medical providers drawn from diverse areas of federal medicine. The board will serve as a guide and sounding board for our reporting staff, ensuring the timeliest and most important topics of interest to our readership will continue to be covered in the coming year. Of course, our most important source and guide for the stories found in U.S. Medicine is you, our readers. Whether through letters to the editor, comments made on our website, or discussions in the soon to be developed Reporters’ Blog, we pay close attention to, and appreciate, the observations of our readers.

As the first decade of the 21st century passes into history, Outlook 2011 provides a forum for federal medicine’s leadership to examine this past decade of unprecedented change and provide their vision of the future. Some of the highlights of this issue include perspectives from the service Surgeons General. From the Air Force, Lt Gen Charles Green, delineates the impact of Patient Centered Medical Home, designed to improve patient outcomes using medical team building focused on the patient. Lt Gen Eric Schoomaker outlines seven tenets that will guide Army medicine in the next 18 to 24 months. Unique among the services, Lt Gen Schoomaker describes the efforts of the Pain Management Task Force chartered in August 2009 and the Army’s Comprehensive Pain Management Campaign Plan focused on “prompt, appropriate treatment of acute pain to minimize chronic pain issues for soldiers and families.” Vice Admiral Adam Robinson summarizes the Navy’s role in recent humanitarian assistance/disaster response missions. He also discusses upcoming challenges such as the transition in 2011 of Walter Reed Army Medical Center onto the campus at National Naval Medical Center, forming the new Walter Reed National Military Medical Center.

Other top leaders in federal medicine include Dr Robert Petzel, under secretary for health, Department of Veterans Affairs, who sketches the Patient Aligned Care Teams designed to revolutionize VA care in 2011 and beyond. Additionally, Dr Carolyn Clancy, director of the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality, proposes data-driven recommendations for the transformation of our nation’s healthcare system. At the Department of Health and Human Services, Assistant Secretary for Health Dr Howard Koh is targeting reducing smoking rates and the role his organization will play in the implementation of the National HIV/AIDS Strategy. Dr George Peach Taylor, performing the duties of the assistant secretary of Defense for Health Affairs, describes the Quadruple Aim plan that will guide the Military Health System during the current rapidly evolving national healthcare environment.

These are just a few of the insightful articles from our leadership that will provide readers a strategic view of the federal medicine landscape in 2011. I am personally grateful to all of our contributors to Outlook 2011 for this peek into federal medicine’s future. As always, we invite your comments and letters on our annual preview of federal medicine and look forward to another year of serving those who care for our nation’s finest.

Yours in Service,

Chester ‘Trip’ Buckenmaier III, MD
Col, MC, USA
Editor-in-Chief, U.S. Medicine

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