STFM BEGINS UPDATE OF ITS STRATEGIC PLAN

Traci Nolte

doi:10.1370/afm.2326

The Society of Teachers of Family Medicine (STFM) has embarked on an update of its Strategic Plan for 2020–2025. STFM uses its strategic plan to guide the organization and its activities.

“The Board takes strategic planning very seriously. The strategic plan guides every major decision and for that reason it is so important that we regularly monitor and revise the plan, using input from our members and environmental scans,” said STFM President Beat Steiner, MD, MPH.

The Strategic Planning Committee (SPC) members include:

Freddy Chen, MD, MSPH, University of Washington
Renee Crichlow, MD, University of Minnesota
Joe Gravel, MD, Greater Lawrence Family Health Center, Lawrence, MA
Cristy Page, MD, University of North Carolina
Heather Paladine, MD, NY Presbyterian Hospital FMR, New York, NY
Andrea Pfeifle, EdD, Indiana University
Randall Reitz, PhD, St Mary’s Hospital, Grand Junction, CO
Beat Steiner, MD, MPH, University of North Carolina, SPC Chair
Stephen Wilson, MD, MPH, University of Pittsburgh Medical Center
Stacy Brungardt, CAE, STFM
Stan Kozakowski, MD, SPC facilitator
Mary Theobald, MBA, STFM

“STFM exists to serve its members. A strategic plan must attend to both the current environment as well as demonstrate value to its members in a rapidly changing workplace environment now and over the next several years,” said Dr Kozakowski, MD, who will serve as strategic plan committee (SPC) facilitator.

As part of the strategic plan update process, the SPC will be assessing the previous goals and strategies and the achievements of the organization in relation to the current plan. The committee will also review results of extensive data collected from the STFM member needs survey, interviews with current and past members, a staff survey, and SWOT (strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, and threats) analyses performed by each STFM Standing Committee. At its December 2018 meeting, the STFM Board will synthesize the ideas from the committee SWOT responses and prioritize the key issues to share with the SPC.

“This plan becomes more critical than ever as our members wrestle with an unsustainable health care system due to runaway costs, health care disparities, competing demands for clinical production and academic activities, and personal health and well-being,” added Dr Kozakowski.

The SPC will hold its first meeting in January 2019 and will continue its work through June 2019 with plans to have a preliminary draft of the 2020–2025 Strategic Plan for review by the STFM Board of Directors at its July 2019 Board meeting. Based on feedback from the Board, the SPC will refine the plan for final Board approval in September 2019.