Welcome to a special issue of The Physician Executive

Physician Executive, March-April, 2005 by Bill Steiger

In the following pages, you will read about the results of ACPE's Ethical Behavior Survey. The survey results represent many of your own views on the ethical challenges facing the business of medicine today. Along with the survey results, we also offer several articles that examine:

* Strategies for avoiding ethical conflicts

* The legal implications of ethical--or unethical--business practices

* Philosophical insights about the ethics of health care

* Excerpts from a new book that details the conflicts of interest that impact health care organizations today

Many thanks to all of you who contributed to the survey and our writers who worked hard to pull together the important information found in this special report.

Your comments on the series are welcome. You may send Letters to the Editor by e-mail to bsteiger@acpe.org

Bill Steiger, editor