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Introduction
The
University of Texas Medical Branch (UTMB) implemented a strategic
planning process in 1982 in accordance with rules established by
The University of Texas System Board of Regents.
Strategic plans have been reviewed and updated on a
biennial basis and have documented the Medical Branch's direction
for the future.
UTMB
has continued to refine its planning process, improving data
collection, analysis, communication, goal setting, budgeting, and
performance monitoring. In
1998, an institutional process was initiated to clarify UTMB’s
core purpose and fundamental values and provide the foundation for
strategic planning and decision-making.
An institutional vision defined by four priorities and
related goals were developed to guide the institution into the 21st
century. In 1999 UTMB initiated a broad based, iterative scenario
planning process to further embellish our strategic planning
process. Scenarios
are plausible views of the future environment the institution may
find itself having to face. Multiple
scenarios and the strategies that support them improve
organizational flexibility and decision making in addressing the
uncertainties of the future.
A
task force, comprised of faculty, administrators, and
technologists from across the institution, performed an
environmental scan of the key trends and driving forces that were
likely to have a significant impact on Academic Medical Centers
during the period 2002 – 2007. Critical uncertainties over which
the institution has little control were also cataloged and
analyzed. The key uncertainties included regulation and
legislation, consumerism, product differentiation, organization,
competition, economic conditions, medical reimbursement, and
technology. The product of the task force’s work was the
identification of four alternate views (scenarios) of the future
environment the institution may face. The task force reached
consensus that the E-Mail Age scenario was the most plausible of
the four scenarios.
The
President’s Council endorsed the task force’s work and
identified a set of key implications to each of UTMB’s mission
areas – education, clinical service, research, and community
service based on the E-Mail Age scenario during the first quarter
of 2000. Multiple groups comprised of over one hundred faculty,
administrators, staff and external constituents reviewed and
refined the mission implications and developed comprehensive
strategies aimed at positioning the institution to thrive in the
E-Mail Age. In October 2000 a strategy task force prioritized the
strategies, compiled a set of guideposts that would serve to
demonstrate the reality of the scenario, and developed a
five-theme implementation approach.
The
first decade of the millennium will be heavily influenced by
technology, and driven by consumerism.
Consumers will become actively involved in making choices
about services and will be able, through technology, to access the
services they want with little regard to geographic limitations.
Providers must be able to offer quality and represent
excellence to thrive in this “virtual” environment.
The functions of academic medical centers will be provided
in this “virtual” environment.
Students,
granting agencies, patients, and employers will demand high
quality, value-laden services in a low-overhead, cost-effective
manner. The
availability of ubiquitous complete access, 24 hours a day, 7 days
a week, with privacy and security safeguards and high speed
communication systems will pervade all aspects of our lives, from
“virtual” commerce on a global scale to “virtual”
healthcare. This will
foster a new form of competition providing a large variety of
choices to the consumer. The sophisticated patient, armed with information obtained
from the World Wide Web, will “shop” for the best care at the
best price.
Opportunities
to market services will no longer be bound by geography.
Partnerships and consortia development will result in
multi-disciplinary, proprietary-oriented research without
boundaries, driven by societal interest. Technical transfer of basic research to commercial markets
will be commonplace.
The
same principles will apply to teaching, which will take the form
of “borderless” classrooms with “just-in-time” classes,
designer courses and “virtual” degree programs.
The majority of patient care and teaching activities will
be “virtual”, generally at consumers’ homes and at their
convenience, health services must accommodate them.
Twenty-four hour comprehensive health care coverage,
independent of location, will be routine.
The patient’s care provider will be available regardless
of whether the patient is at home, work or traveling.
Primary care providers will need training and experience in
areas such as occupational medicine, workman’s compensation,
public health, travel medicine and knowledge of other cultures’
medical practices and pharmaceuticals.
Advances in robotics will allow for distance procedures and
even distance surgery.
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