A Dream Comes True With Magazine’s Debut

Lisa Remington always saw herself as a media mogul. She’s on her way with publication aimed at health care industry.

LAGUNA NIGUEL--Since high school, Lisa Remington has envisioned herself as one day becoming a media mogul.

Always an avid reader, she has staunchly believed that her destiny would include launching her own magazine, with the thrill of deadlines and seeing the finished copies on coffee tables nationwide.

Come September, Remington’s dream becomes reality with the scheduled publication of a glossy, 40-page magazine that targets a growing segment of the health care industry: home health and outpatient care.

“It really is what I’ve always wanted to do,” Remington said recently. “And now this is a reality.”

Remington’s success has come after years of hard work and on-the-job training.

Most recently, Remington, a 38-year-old single mother, has been publishing the Remington Report, a 25,000-circulation newsletter that is distributed to health care professionals and lawmakers as far away as Washington. The 1 1/2-year-old bimonthly newsletter, which usually runs about 12 pages an issue, includes such headlines as:

* “Integrating Home Care Services with Diagnostic Related Groups,” a story that explained how home health companies can take advantage of the lengthy Medicare repayment process.

* “Outpatient Surgeries Soar, Offering New Opportunities to the Home Care Industry,” a detailed look at the growth of one-day surgery centers across the nation,

* “Social Work: Bridging the Gap Between the Health Care Delivery System and Outside Community Services,” an article that shows how social workers play an important part in the care of a home-bound patient.

* “1993 Health Care Predictions,” a crystal ball look at such issues as group practice, physician compensation, the rise of HMO stocks and the need for disease prevention programs.

The newsletter, which is produced with a desktop publishing program and has a $295 annual subscription rate, has been well received within the burgeoning home health industry. And because Orange County has been a leading area for such companies, Remington’s home base in Laguna Niguel is advantageous.

“I find (the Remington Report) to be quite useful,” said Steve Plochocki, vice president of sales and marketing for Abbey Health Care Group Inc. in Costa Mesa, which provides home health care services and equipment, such as respiratory machines and intravenous pumps. Despite the complicated-sounding headlines, he said, “it’s easy to read. I even use it in training sessions.”

Plochocki said that “the market is good right now” for the Remington Report to transform itself into a trade journal, what with all the talk from Newport Beach to Washington about health care reform. “Everyone is looking for answers to health care reform.”

Remington believes she can provide a few reforms.

“I serve an important niche and I feel I have a lot to say about changes in the industry,” she said.

Remington’s career in health care began quite unexpectedly. Once a banking executive, she was hired by the finance department at St. John’s Hospital in Santa Monica in 1979. Remington, who has been linked to health care ever since, also made time to serve as Southern California editor for a Chicago-based newsletter of the Health Care Financial Management Assn.

Eleven years ago, Remington left the hospital and stepped out on her own, starting the Remington Advisory Group, a consultant firm for the health care industry.

It was under the auspices of the Advisory Group that Remington launched her newsletter. Business has been booming, collecting $13 million in annual revenue last year for the privately held company.

Remington said that her idea of stimulating reading isn’t a bestseller like Michael Crichton’s “Jurassic Park,” or John Grisham’s “The Firm.”

“I love to read psychology and business books,” she said. “Business is my playground. I don’t think there’s anything more intellectually stimulating.”

Through it all, the most important thing for Remington is to be a role model, letting other single mothers--she has a teen-age daughter--know that with determination they can succeed in the business world.

“It’s all there for you,” Remington said. “if you work at it. And if you have a goal. For me, this isn’t work. It’s all fun.”

If your Orange County company has annual sales of less than $10 million, we would like to consider it for a future column. Call O.C. Enterprise at (714) 966-7871.