Navigating Our Future

“Without goals, and plans to reach them, you are like a ship that has set sail with no destination."

By Marshall E. Hicks MD, FSIR

SIR President

By the time you read this column, SIR leaders—with your input and suggestions—have begun to set a new course for the Society. This is an exciting time as we begin to navigate our future, and we’ll keep you informed of the strategy plan process and progress in IR News and other SIR communications efforts. Over this summer, our draft strategy plan will continue to be evaluated and refined, culminating in its final review and approval by the Executive Council in November.

Executive Council members, including Service Line and resident representatives, met in May to set the direction for the Society over the next several years. During intense long-range strategic planning sessions, we discussed many topics, including turf issues/increased competition associated with procedures, changes in practice environments, the unknowns related to continuous changes to the health care system, continued growth of minimally invasive procedures, increased need for the field to define and support its identity, constant changes in technology and the addition of new devices, changing patient demographics, increased fragmentation in the field, continued need to attract medical students and the continued lack of understanding by other health care professionals and the public of the role and scope of interventional radiologists.

Additionally, we listened to you. Whether you spoke personally with Society officers or participated in our Idea Café or in committee meetings during the Annual Scientific Meeting—your input and comments were included in our strategy planning discussions. Additionally, phone interviews were held with members who represented current and past leaders, U.S. and international members, manufacturers, inactive members, students, and young and experienced professionals and who practice in a variety of settings. Thanks to all who have contributed to envisioning our future!

From all these discussions, we explored ideas for our core ideology, our long-term envisioned future (10+ years), five-year goals, factors that could affect our ability to succeed and the choices we need to make in defining our long-range plan. While not finalized, I can share with you that our new strategic plan will center on four main ideas that will steer and prioritize SIR’s efforts in the coming years.

• Clinical care in the practice of IR (ensure every interventional radiologist provides longitudinal care, for example, by promoting clinical practice with key stakeholders, ensuring implementation of the dual certificate, identifying/eliminating barriers to longitudinal clinical care practices)
• Outcomes data and evidence (develop a standardized data collection system, for example, by improving the effectiveness of organizational structure and oversight, decreasing duplication of current data collection projects, prioritizing studies, encouraging member participation, standardizing reports)
• Branding IR (increase the understanding and support of interventional radiology among key decision makers, for example, by identifying and prioritizing target audiences)
• Enhancing revenue growth (provide necessary resources to fund SIR’s defined goals by increasing net revenue, for example, by smartly using and repurposing our expert educational content)

As we continue the process of determining where we intend SIR to go in the future, it’s clear that we continue to advocate the value of interventional radiology. One concrete long-term vision that strategy planning participants kept voicing was that IR should be the first choice for image-guided therapy—for patients, referring physicians, private and federal funding sources and insurance payers.

 I’m honored—and humbled—to represent you and to assist in setting a new long-term direction for SIR along with the dedicated volunteer members who are collaborating on this project. This ongoing planning process—to address your future needs—pairs nicely with Executive Director Sue Holzer’s management focus that SIR undergo positive change, battle complexity with innovative efforts and serve as your IR source to meet your current needs (please see page xxx). More information about our new strategic plan will be released in the coming months.

Question

Which of these four SIR priorities is most important for you in the next five years: (1) clinical care in the practice of IR, (2) outcomes data and evidence, (3) branding IR or (4) enhancing revenue growth? 

Originally published in SIR's July/August IR News