by Thomas Giacobbi, DDS, FAGD, editorial director, Dentaltown magazine
The new year always brings the promise of resolutions, predictions and a moment to look back at last year's accomplishments. I have never been one to make New Year's resolutions because of my natural fear of failure. However, I do dabble in goal setting and predictions to start the new year with a forward-looking mindset. I have a monthly team meeting in my practice and the January meeting always includes some goals and projects for the year ahead.
In my practice, we previewed one of our big goals at the December meeting. We recently purchased an intraoral digital scanner and in the first part of the year we will train and focus on our new digital treatment workflows. This is exciting technology to share with our patients and will provide new opportunities for data collection with new and existing patients. On the business side of the practice I'm converting more insurance companies to EFT payments—the future of reimbursement. It takes time to adjust your systems to accommodate the digital flow of payments and EOBs.
The world of Dentaltown is also filled with some great news for the new year. First, I am pleased to announce the addition of John Lannon to our editorial team as the special projects editor. He is a dental industry veteran with more than 17 years of magazine experience. I have the pleasure of knowing John since my start with Dentaltown 16 years ago. He will provide his expertise and manage special editorial projects that we have planned throughout the year, with the first one running in our February issue. If you would like to reach him by email, send him a message at john@farranmedia.com.
Second, in this issue you will find a host of new faces in front of the magazine. We have revamped our editorial advisory board with a team of dental professionals who are committed to guiding our future content. They will review articles, contribute content and help develop story ideas. Magazine contributions have always been reviewed by multiple clinicians prior to publication and this new team is well balanced to review our ever-increasing content.
One final change that you most likely experienced before this magazine went to print is our website, which recently underwent a massive redesign. The new site features improved navigation and a clean, simple interface with a responsive design that will adapt to any screen size. Of course, when you are on your mobile phone, we recommend using the Dentaltown app for a great mobile experience.
I hope some of these projects, goals and initiatives have inspired you to make your own plans for the new year. Please share your ideas in the comments section online and you can also reach me via email: tom@dentaltown.com. I'm on Twitter @ddsTom.