If you have already read or flipped through this fifth-anniversary issue, you'll see that the changes announced on the cover are more than cover deep. We haven't just redesigned FPM; we've stripped it down and rebuilt it.

Why change?

We had a number of reasons, actually. But chief among them was a desire to serve you better, corny as that may sound. Here's what I mean:

• We made article titles more prominent on the cover, added page numbers to the cover and made the table of contents more informative to help you find the articles you're most interested in.

• We shortened articles, to make it easier to get into (and out of) them and to find the information you need.

• We included more Speedbar summaries and additional reading aids, such as the lists of key points that appear on the opening pages of most articles.

• We increased the amount of information contained in every issue — not because we wanted to weigh you down with more reading, but because we wanted to offer you a better variety of information.

• As part of our effort to increase variety, we added several new departments. More about them in a minute.

• We regularized the layout of articles to make them easier to follow and to help you get quickly to the information you want.

As you can see, virtually every change we have made is intended to increase the usefulness and accessibility of FPM.

Even the way we've changed the look of the name “Family Practice Management” at the top of the cover is an effort to communicate better. FPM is much more about family practice than about management, and we wanted to emphasize that. Too many family physicians assume from the name that FPM is intended solely for physician managers. Not true. The goal of Family Practice Management is to help every family physician manage to stay in practice.

Our new departments

I hope you'll take a moment to visit the four departments that debut in this issue. You may well find you'll want to keep coming back to them in the future.

Practice Diary will provide glimpses into another practice —the solo practice of California family physician Sanford J. Brown, MD. I think you'll find Dr. Brown's experiences, his wit and his insight a compelling mix.

Improving Patient Care will live up to its name by offering news and advice concerning quality of care, physician-patient relations, clinical guidelines, quality improvement, evidence-based medicine, population-based care, etc.

Computers will address a variety of computer-related topics important to family physicians in various practice settings, with a bonus review of a useful web site in every issue.

Balancing Act will end each issue in the healthiest possible way, by giving you brief tips on maintaining life balance.

Please make yourself at home

I hope you will take a few minutes to explore this new FPM, from “Why Family Practice Management?” through to Balancing Act. See what you think, and see what FPM has to offer you. If you have comments on the “rebuilt” FPM, I'd appreciate hearing them. Inside the front cover there's a fax-back survey you can complete if you wish, or you can simply call or write. Our address appears on page 4.

Whether you've been an FPM reader from the beginning or you're only now discovering its usefulness, we hope the rejuvenated FPM serves you well. Enjoy!