Effective Clinical Practice: A New Journal, Another Point of View

In August 1998, a new journal, Effective Clinical Practice, appeared on the biomedical scene (1). With thousands of journals already out there, and health professionals struggling to stay ahead of the information explosion, why another journal at this time?

The answer is that Effective Clinical Practice is not really new, just better. The Alliance of Community Health Plans (formerly the HMO Group), the major professional association of nonprofit managed care organizations, had for some years published the predecessor of Effective Clinical Practice, HMO Practice, which was distributed to about 15 000 physicians and other health professionals. As the managed care phenomenon evolved, it became clear to The Alliance of Community Health …