Annually, as a part of the July board meeting, the SDAHO Board of Trustees reviews/updates the strategic plan for the association.
This year the group focused on three priority areas: advocacy, business development and membership services.
- Advocacy continues to be our core service, and the highest legislative priority is to work with Gov. Dennis Daugaard’s team to successfully expand Medicaid in South Dakota. In addition, strengthening the alignment and coordination with the Council on Public Policy and our advocacy partners to achieve identified state/federal agenda issues will be at the center of our ongoing efforts.
- Business development involves exploring opportunities to create additional value, with an emphasis on non-dues revenue. To this end, the board voted to establish a Health Education Research Trust (HRET). The HRET will be structured as a 501(c)(3), not-for-profit organization, and among other benefits, the new entity will provide the structure for future grants.
- Membership services includes creating business plans for shared-services, post-acute care and quality integration services. Overall, the focus is to enhance and infuse additional energy into these areas. Where possible, opportunities to collaborate with other organizations will be pursued.
The planning session also afforded the opportunity to review the status of current strategic plan initiatives and celebrate some of the achievements during the past year. As indicated on the dashboard report, the work of the Vulnerable Communities Task Force was recognized, and the soon-to-be-released report and executive summary contains the characteristics of vulnerable communities in rural and frontier areas and various emerging payment and delivery models. The efforts to strengthen advocacy have proved successful with increased membership engagement and stronger alignment and coordination with the Council on Public Policy and our advocacy partners. The board select committee on governance is completing important work through evaluating a number of governance activities, including a review of by-laws, council and district structures, board composition and increasing opportunities for alignment and member engagement.
During the next several weeks, the results of the planning session will be used to recommend revisions to the current strategic plan objectives and tactical steps. The board will consider the changes at its September meeting, and clearly this year’s planning session will help the association build upon the current plan. Additional updates will be shared during the annual meeting in September.
It is an exciting time for SDAHO to be a part of the immensely important work that occurs every day in our member organizations! Thank you for the opportunity to serve you and for your ongoing engagement.
