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NewsletterThe Business of SCA One of the Board of Directors' obligations is to develop and approve an annual budget for the Society. Traditionally, this activity takes place during the Annual Meeting of the American Society of Anesthesiologists, because the SCA's fiscal year begins on November 1. The process is complex due to numerous unknowns on both the income and the expense sides of the equation. While it is still too early to make a final determination on the income/expense balance for the 1998-99 fiscal year, a number of general trends are clearly emerging. In the following paragraphs, I would like to discuss these with you and describe some of the decisions that the Board developed in response to these trends. On the expense side, SCA has experienced significant increases in costs associated with the Annual Meeting and the Workshops. The categories where these increases are most pronounced were "Food & Beverage", "Audio-visual", and "Printing". The specific changes for each of these categories are displayed in the table.
It is currently anticipated that the combined losses for the Annual Meeting and Workshops will approach $70,000 for the 1998-99 fiscal year. This comes on top of a $40,000 loss for the previous year. The Board is committed to providing an educational experience that is of the highest quality, and there is, therefore, little enthusiasm for restraining the speakers' audio-visual requirements. The Board is similarly committed to providing a high quality syllabus for both the Annual Meeting and the Workshops. Here again, there is limited ability to significantly reduce costs. Finally, when polled at the Chicago meeting, the membership indicated that it wanted to maintain the same level of food services. As you can see, solutions are not easy to come upon. The Board, however, would be remiss in its fiduciary obligations if it continued to operate the Society's principal educational activity at a loss. As a result, the following resolutions were adopted in Dallas: 1. There will be a small increase in registration fees for both the Annual Meeting and the Workshops. 2. The administrative staff will review the "Food & Beverage" contract for the 2000 Annual Meeting. If possible, small adjustments will be made in the food choices that are being offered. 3. A significant component of the printing costs is related to the late submission of manuscripts. For the 2000 Annual Meeting and Workshops, manuscripts that are not submitted by the submission deadline will not be included in the syllabi. With the implementation of such minor modifications, costs and revenues for these important educational activities should be realigned. On a more positive note, participation in both the "2nd Comprehensive Echo Review" and the "4th Update on Cardiopulmonary Bypass" courses exceeded expectations. As a result, the revenues of these activities helped offset some of the losses from the 21st Annual Meeting and Workshops. In addition, revenues from the SCA's investments continue to be substantial, but they may not remain at the same level in the future. As we move forward, the Board will continue to scrutinize every expense item on the Society's budget and explore every opportunity to reduce expenditures. With a growing reliance on electronic communications, there should be several possibilities to reduce administrative expenses and to increase the range of educational products that are being made available. In parallel, a task force under the leadership of James Ramsay, M.D. is reviewing how SCA relates to industry. Compared to other societies of similar size, we have not been as effective in enrolling the support of industrial partners for some of the activities that we wish to conduct. I am confident that the Task Force on Industrial Relations will come forward with outstanding recommendations in this area. 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 |