Growth is good.

Given the fact that this issue of Nursing Homes focuses upon the fastest-growing segment in long-term care today, assisted living, how appropriate to be able to announce some major growth of our own. You will note in this issue the debut of two major new features slated to appear in every issue of Nursing Homes for the foreseeable future:

* An American College of Health Care Administrators continuing education section (p. 59). By reading the articles in Nursing Homes and taking a test on them, nursing home administrators (both ACHCA members and non-members) can acquire continuing education credits.

* A special section, developed in collaboration with the American Association of Homes and Services for the Aging, on the particular issues confronting not-for-profit facilities (p. 39). The not-for-profit sector has not had the benefit of concentrated attention in a professional magazine; that changes now. In line with this new commitment, Nursing Homes welcomes AAHSA's entire membership to our regular circulation.

Needless to say, we are proud to work in concert with two such distinguished organizations.

As mentioned, assisted living is this issue's focus. Going on the assumption that nursing homes are interested, perhaps even vitally interested, in this field, we've compiled articles offering "how to" suggestions for addressing it, i.e. how to market, how to staff, how to think about assisted living in the long-term care scheme of things. If you do it right, you can ride on what appears to be a major and longlasting growth wave. Considering what's happening (or not happening) with long-term care financing these days, that sounds pretty good, doesn't it?

Meanwhile, another way we are trying to "grow the magazine" is to accept, and even encourage, the expression of a diversity of viewpoints. Since I am privileged to have this space to express my views, I would like to draw your attention to Karen Bonn's "DON's Corner" this month (p. 64). Once again Karen has focused on a major concern for today's nursing profession, this time on an important trend throughout health care, i.e. to try to do more with less qualified personnel. It's to save costs, of course, but the words "penny-wise, pound-foolish" come to mind. People are trained to provide health care - and health care is a profession - because of the depth of preparation that providers need to recognize and confront the many risks that patients and residents face. When professionalism is ignored in the name of cost-cutting, patients' risks are magnified - and, by extension, so are those of the institutions responsible for their care.

Karen pinpoints managed care as a cause for concern, and labels it "socialized medicine." In my view, "commercialized medicine" is more the problem these days, where health care is a "product" and the cheaper the better. The "merchants of medicine" are the ones professionals will have to educate about health care, and what a quality "product" really means in this field.