1993 health guide. Top 10 health stories to watch

A sea change seems likely in the way health care is delivered. In medicine, public health and nutrition, here's what else the year will bring.     

1992 annual guide. A guide to the best

Here are miniprofiles of the 43 hospitals that emerged as the top choices of doctors surveyed in 16 specialties. Phone numbers let you follow up with questions of your own.     

1992 career guide. Best jobs for the future. Salary survey

The best news many workers are looking for when annual review time rolls around this year is that they'll have a job for the foreseeable future. A raise? That's surely hoping for too much. Indeed, some 10 percent of the organizations surveyed by the Wyatt Co., a compensation and benefits consulting firm in New York, have frozen wages this year. About 3 percent plan to do the same in 1992. But salaries have clearly been pummeled harder in some industries than in others. The paychecks of people who work in the retail trade and in the building materials and equipment industry, for example, have barely kept pace with inflation this year. Next year promises more of the same. Those in the legal field, by contrast, enjoyed raises of 8 percent in 1991, and nurse-anesthetists averaged 10 percent. Across the board, salaries in 1991 went up 5.5 percent. But businesses are cynical about the economy's prospects, says Wyatt compensation expert Marsha Cameron, and their planned raises for 1992 average only 5.3 percent. To determine where a profession pays best, U.S. News, in conjunction with Wyatt, took a look at what 18 jobs pay on average at the entry, senior professional and middle manager levels in five regions of the country. The salaries come from Wyatt's survey of more than 3,500 organizations across the United States. New graduates in software engineering may want to send their résumés to Texas and Colorado, for example, where starting salaries, at $34,200, average $6,200 more than in Alabama and Georgia.250+     

Top ten health trends

With advances in medicine, science and technology coming fast and furious, today's bold ideas could easily be tomorrow's standard operating procedures. To keep you abreast of developments in medicine, fitness and nutrition, U.S. News has identified the 10 most important health trends for the coming year. From gene therapy to patients' rights, here's a look at what's ahead.     

A guide to health reform

Answers in plain English to almost everything you ever wanted to know about the Clinton initiative--and how it could affect the medical care you get.