For the past few years, the Affordable Care Act has been the biggest story in health care. First, it was a story about hospitals and manufacturers. It was a narrative about how each entity was impacted or expecting to be, so there was a lot of hunkering down and not much spending going on. Then, as the rollout neared and eventually happened, the story shifted to consumers. Really, it was a story that crossed into a lot of different areas and heavily impacted all of health care. Well, nearly all of health care. One area that wasn't touched too much was the aesthetic surgery sector.

Aesthetic surgery occupies a unique position in health care. It's typically an elective procedure and as such, it's usually not covered by insurance plans. There can be exceptions, burn victims for example, may manage to get coverage for a procedure, but for the most part, insurance isn't jumping in to cover procedures and that means the sector doesn't have much to lose no matter how health care reform shakes out. In the end, patients are left to their own devices when it comes to paying. This leads many to look at all options - like traveling to get a procedure done at a better price. Many consumers are familiar with the concept behind the trend and with a greater segment of the U.S. population hitting its golden years, the interest in medical tourism only promises to grow. We take a look at it in our feature on page 56.

Meanwhile, whether it's domestic or international, aesthetic treatment options have been getting some updates over the past year or two. We offer a look at the latest (p. 54).

On the cosmetic laser front, we have a slew of stories. Our industry sector report (p. 44) offers a look at this young, but aging industry that exists to fight signs of aging. Meanwhile, a feature article by the ASLMS delves into some of the latest technology available to practitioners (p. 41). Finally, for those looking to buy a used laser, there are 10 tips they should check out (p. 52).

Traditionally, January has been our "green" issue. This year, while we moved away from that theme, we're still offering coverage including a feature on things to consider when buying eco-friendly products (p. 34), a Q&A with Practice GreenHealth's new executive director, Jeffrey Brown (p. 37), a feature on reprocessing (p. 38) and our "Future of" column for this month about the future of hospital food. Anyone surprised that hospital food is high on the list for green concerns really needs to check out the article (p. 64).

Last, but certainly not least, I want to acknowledge that DOTmed News is starting 2015 off right. There's a new name showing up on our masthead. I'd like to welcome Thomas Dworetzky to the DOTmed News team. Tom recently came on board as the executive editorial director. He brings a wealth of experience and I'm confident you'll be impressed with the direction our news will take in the New Year.

Until next issue!

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