On October 22, 2000, the Council of The Society of Thoracic Surgeons voted unanimously to launch a strategic plan that will help guide the Society through the next five to seven years. Some 33 individuals deliberated over the plan for almost seven months, incorporating the results of Internet surveys from STS members. The plan encompasses every aspect of the Societys life and programs.
The following is a segment of the Executive Summary of the strategic plan. Further information will be coming to you in future issues of this newsletter, via the Internet, and through presentations at the annual meeting and other regional meetings of the Society.
The specialty of cardiothoracic surgery faces a host of formidable challenges:
| | the changing definition and scope of the specialty, often expressed as multiple new splinter interest groups; |
| | the increasing demand for convenient, cost-effective outcomes (patient-focused factories); |
| | the steadily diminishing payment for specialty care, particularly for cardiothoracic services; |
| | the globalization of medicine, particularly in specialties; and |
| | the increasing difficulty in recruiting the best and the brightest into the specialty. |
At the same time, The Society of Thoracic Surgeons (STS) faces its own particular challenges:
| | an administrative infrastructure that was not designed to handle the significantly increasing scope of external pressures; |
| | increasing expectations among members, based on past STS successes, for a greater sphere of increasingly complex support services; |
| | a professional organizational construct that is overly dependent on dues and volunteerism, at a time when there is less money and time available for these activities; |
| | an increasingly oppressive external environment, characterized by regulation and oversight; |
| | the need to expand expertise into areas not included in our traditional education (i.e., business, politics and policy development); and |
| | an exponential increase in the information required to practice evidence-based cardiovascular medicine and surgery. |
With these challenges as a backdrop, the Strategic Planning Committee believes strongly that staying the course is not an option for the Society. The STS must revise its operational focus and develop new strategies, in order to evolve into an umbrella organization capable of providing needed support to its members and the profession as a whole. The breadth of activities that characterize the specialty continues to grow, and the Society must accommodate this growth in the future.
The Mission of the Society:
To Help Cardiothoracic Surgeons to Better Serve Patients.
This simple statement reflects the fact that the Society is the face of cardiothoracic surgery, and that STS members share the ultimate responsibility to improve the wellfare of all patients with cardiothoracic disorders.
In pursuit of this Mission, the Society will reinforce its commitment to creating superior value in Cardiothoracic Care by:
| | providing professional support for the membership; |
| | helping members expand their sphere of cardiothoracic care; and |
| | working with other physicians and organizations to foster a health care environment that best helps meet the needs of the specialty, all patients and society. |
Throughout, the overriding Operational Principle will be to achieve this mission and value focus by always maintaining the moral and ethical high road.
To achieve the goals of the mission, the STS must build on its traditional, current and future strengths to take on an expanded and evolving range of services, beginning with a revised organizational structure. Throughout, the Society will emphasize advocacy for patients, for members and for the public.
The intent of this strategic plan is to create greater value for the Societys constituents through four strategic initiatives:
| 1. | sharpening the operating focus of the STS; |
| 2. | broadening the professional capabilities of its members; |
| 3. | improving patient wellfare through quality improvement; and |
| 4. | developing patient empowerment through education. |
The STS will retain its traditional core services of professional education and representation based on volunteerism and members dues. Newer, more innovative programs will have to be accomplished using a more corporate model, including for-profit status, with day-to-day operations managed according to a business plan and governed by a freestanding board of directors with corporate fiduciary responsibility. Funding for some new programs will come primarily from other non- traditional sources (e.g. governmental and foundation grants).
All new programs, regardless of funding and/or governance structure, will remain under the control of the society and will adhere to operating principles established by the STS council.
The Society leadership will be presenting the specific actions for implementation of the plan to the membership at various meetings in the next couple of months. The goal of the plan is to streamline the Society so that it can meet the challenges presented by technology, government regulations and the changing needs of our patients.
We look forward to your continued input and comments on these efforts.
Your Executive Committee and Council 
