Newsletter

The Future of SCA

Now that we have slipped uneventfully from one millennium into the next, it may be opportune to reflect briefly on some recent developments at SCA and, more importantly, to focus on the future of SCA.

On November 15, 1999, the Accreditation Council for Continuing Medical Education (ACCME) formally notified SCA that it had approved reaccreditation of the Society for a period of four years. While most of us have always been impressed by the high quality of SCA's educational offerings, ACCME accreditation requires compliance with an elaborate set of "Essentials & Standards". Unfortunately, documentation of such compliance had been lagging and as a result SCA had been placed on probation. This was obviously unacceptable and required correction. Both the administrative staff and the leadership of the Society launched a major initiative to ensure that by the time of the next ACCME review, SCA would be in full compliance with all ACCME requirements. During our Annual Meeting in Chicago, ACCME conducted a full-day site visit that included review of documentation, interviews with staff and leadership, and spot checks of the commercial exhibits, poster sessions and scientific panels. Everyone involved worked very hard at convincing ACCME that SCA was indeed outstanding in its educational commitments and achievements. The outcome of this effort was the four-year reaccreditation approval. I believe that the administrative staff, committee chairs, and officers of SCA deserve to be congratulated for this superb achievement.

On February 18-20, 2000 the leadership of SCA will meet to conduct a strategic planning retreat with the help of a professional facilitator. Questions that will be considered include the following:

1. What should SCA as a professional organization be like in 2005? How should it serve its members? How should it serve the profession? How should it relate to other organizations and society at large?
2. What are key trends (e.g. social/demographic, political, economic, technologic, professional) that are likely to have a positive or negative impact on SCA over the next 3-5 years?
3. What changes are needed in SCA to assure its ability to effectively and efficiently serve its members and the profession over the next 3-5 years?
4. What are the 5 or 10 most important things that SCA should do over the next 3-5 years?

It is my hope that, at the conclusion of the retreat, we will have a few well-defined goals for the next 5 years. These will be shared immediately with all members of the Society because your participation will be essential as the Board of Directors begins to implement SCA's 5-year objectives.

If you have comments or suggestions on these issues, please feel free to communicate them to me at sca@societyhq.com or at dthys@slrhc.org. After editorial review by the Newsletter Committee, they will be published. One of my hopes is that the SCA Newsletter will develop into a forum for active discussion on topics that interest us all.

Daniel M. Thys, MD
President, SCA


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