As editor of the Encyclopedia of Health Care Management, I fully acknowledge that the work of many, many others made this book possible. Without their work, this book would not exist.

First, I must recognize the Editorial Advisory Board consisting of Drs. Kate Atchley, Peter Ginter, Linda Swayne, and Steve Vitkun. These professionals helped to design the list of keywords for the book, helped to recruit some of the authors, and wrote some of the keywords themselves. Given the breadth and depth of their experience, they added great insight to the topic. Kate Atchley added great insight into the development of the leadership and management keywords; she leads the Leadership Development Program in the Physician Executive MBA at The University of Tennessee. Peter Ginter, University of Alabama at Birmingham, added expertise to the development of the strategy and management keywords; he teaches Health Care Strategy and is coauthor of a widely cited text in that area. Linda Swayne, who led the development of the marketing keywords, teaches Health Care Marketing at the University of North Carolina in Charlotte and is a textbook coauthor with Peter Ginter. As an M.D. and a Ph.D. on the faculty of the Medical and Pharmacology Schools at the State University of New York in Stony Brook, Steve Vitkun added great insight to the medical practice and pharmacological keywords in the book.

Second, I must recognize the authors. More than 160 professionals wrote the book's innovative material. I am proud to call them partners in this educational venture.

Please see the Contributing Author List. Note the high level of education and the educational diversity of the author team as represented by the number of PhDs, MDs, MBAs, CPAs and JDs. Please also note the diversity of institutional affiliations with universities, hospitals, medical schools, pharmaceutical companies, clinics, accounting firms, and law firms. These diverse educational and institutional backgrounds provide unique perspectives into the business of medicine.

I need to recognize the efforts of Mr. Thomas Brown, Program Coordinator, Physician Executive MBA, University of Tennessee. Tom developed the Excel spreadsheets and the listings in the Web pages to manage the keywords and work status. Dr. Lee Wortham verified all the Internet addresses in the Further Readings.

Certainly, I need to acknowledge the work of Mr. Rolf Janke, Vice President at Sage Publications. Rolf developed the original idea of the Encyclopedia of Health Care Management and has been a product champion of the concept throughout its life. Sara Tauber, assistant to Rolf Janke; Vince Burns, developmental editor; Sanford Robinson, senior production editor; and Linda Purrington, copy editor, were all instrumental in implementing the idea.

All of the above experts made this book possible. I recognize them individually and collectively for their contributions.