February 27, 2004

  "I want to thank everyone who has been involved with this planning process."

- Peter L. Slavin, MD
MGH president

Preparing for the future: Strategic planning effort begins new chapter

The last of the task force reports have been presented. Months of hard work and planning have been completed. And now the hospitalwide Strategic Planning effort is closing one chapter and beginning a new one.

Members of each of the seven task forces — Clinical Innovation, Quality and Safety, Workforce Issues, Optimal Use of Campus Capacity, New Business Opportunities, Expense Management and Clinical Growth — have presented their formal recommendations to the Strategic Planning Steering Committee. The recommendations now are being compiled into a draft of a roadmap aimed at guiding the hospital into the future.

"I want to thank everyone who has been involved with this planning process," says Peter L. Slavin, MD, president of the MGH. "Many thoughtful, interesting and creative ideas have come to the surface to help make the MGH a stronger, more efficient place to care for our patients and to support our employees. The next few months will be an exciting time as we start putting these ideas into action."

While many of the task force recommendations that came forth during the planning process involved ways to manage costs more effectively and enhance clinical infrastructures, some of the ideas presented to the Steering Committee offered creative solutions to improving MGH services. For example, at a Steering Committee meeting held Feb. 23, the New Business Opportunities Task Force presented an inventive idea to bring more revenue to the hospital that involves combining the expertise of the Food and Nutrition Service with Physical Therapy and the Clubs at Charles River Park to provide nutrition, health and wellness services to the general public, to patients and their families, as well as employees.

"We have tried to capture the incredible entrepreneurial spirit that is alive and well here at the MGH," says James Thrall, MD, chief of MGH Radiology and chair of the task force. "We also tried to bring ideas to the table that will enrich the MGH community and that could touch the lives of our patients and their families, as well as our own employees with desirable services."

The Steering Committee, along with key members of the task forces, will hold a half-day retreat in March to review, refine and approve an integrated strategic plan. "Our challenge now is to integrate the recommendations from the task force reports and make important decisions about which recommendations realistically can be executed and in what order they should be implemented," says Allison Rimm, vice president of MGH External Affairs, who is coordinating the Strategic Planning process along with Anne Dubitzky, vice president of Managed Care Contracting and Marketing for the MGH and the Massachusetts General Physicians Organization.

Rimm adds, "Some short-term recommendations can be put into motion right away, while long-term suggestions will need detailed business planning prior to implementation. There is a great deal more work to be done, but the wonderful work that has been presented so far provides a solid foundation. We are excited and optimistic about the future."