Catholic Health East: President's Letter

	Robert V. Stanek President and CEO

January, 2006

We are all blessed to devote our professional lives to healthcare. I have always considered it a privilege and honor to work side-by-side with our Sponsors, Board members, System and RHC/JOA management, physicians, nurses, and other clinicians and support staff as we all focus on one overriding goal: to be a transforming, healing presence in the communities we serve.

While we all derive great satisfaction from helping our institutions provide the best possible care to our patients, we all know that we work in an industry that is undergoing major changes and facing many challenges. Reimbursement is always a concern, as our Medicare and Medicaid systems buckle under the weight of aging baby boomers and federal and state budget woes. Our nation is witnessing a growing number of underinsured and uninsured residents, with no comprehensive solution in sight. Technology grows in leaps and bounds, but reimbursement to provide these services often lags far behind. Crises in malpractice insurance and critical staffing shortages in many disciplines threaten our abilities to continue to provide essential services. And we all face increased public and governmental scrutiny of our billing and collection practices, charity care policies, compensation practices, and not-for-profit status.

With all of these changes and uncertainties…how do healthcare organizations effectively plan for the future? Does it even make sense to devote time to planning efforts when the pace of change seems to be accelerating?

According to Dr. Stephen Haines, President of the Centre for Strategic Management and a featured speaker at CHE's Fall strategic management education sessions, it is even more important to plan during times of great change. In fact, he recommends that organizations plan for the processes and structures of change itself. "Insanity," according to Haines, "is doing the same things in the same way, yet expecting different results." During these strategic planning educational and feedback sessions—held in each of our Divisions—Dr. Haines and other planning experts helped guide our discussions and deliberations as we focus on our transition from a "strategic planning" to "strategic management" process. With the valuable and timely input of a cross-section of RHC/JOA Board members and management obtained at these sessions, we have been able to create a shared vision of an improved strategic planning and management process…at the local as well as the System level.

As we move from the former "strategic planning" model to our new "strategic management" model, here are some of the changes you will notice:

our "planning horizon" will expand from three years to ten years;
planning efforts throughout the System will be two-way, not top-down;
in addition to senior leadership and the planning departments, key stakeholders will be involved in the planning process;
the process will not be confined to specific departments or components; it will "cascade" throughout the entire organization;
strategic, financial and operational plans will be fully integrated;
we will move towards creating Mission and Vision statements that are understood and embraced by all organizations; and
rather than extrapolating based on today's situations and experiences, we will start with a future "ideal" and work backwards to build a roadmap of "how to get there."

In summary, where many viewed the strategic planning process as an isolated initiative that we all went through periodically, we have now evolved into "a new way to run the business": a strategic management system. Soon you will receive a timeline detailing CHE's new strategic management system. I look forward to your support as, together, we begin the process of creating our new 10-year plan for Catholic Health East.

Sincerely yours,
Robert V. Stanek
President and Chief Executive Officer, Catholic Health East

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