President’s Perspective: Berini talks strategy

In her January President’s Perspective, Hershey Medical Center President Deborah Berini discusses the importance of a new strategic plan in ensuring Hershey’s success as the region’s only academic medical center.

Dear Colleagues:

A new year marks a fresh start, so let’s take a few minutes to focus on the future. Although we started a bit later in 2020 than we had hoped, our leadership team worked throughout the year to develop a five-year strategic plan – a road map to take us to the next level in health care treatment and delivery.

Penn State Health is growing. In response, the hospitals within the system will continue to develop their roles to meet the needs of their communities, the region and state. As an academic medical center, our priorities are treating patients with more complex and challenging medical conditions, engaging in clinical research and educating the next generation of health care professionals.

Performance, innovation and patient and staff experience served as the guideposts for the strategic planning process. Workgroups established goals for each of those foundational themes. The goals are:

• Consistent with mission and vision
• Achievable in three to five years
• Measureable
• Aligned with the College of Medicine’s strategic plan and Penn State Health’s strategies

A comprehensive strategic plan helps us anticipate, prepare for and respond to changes and trends that will impact how we give care, train our caregivers and approach critical research. This might include emerging technology, consumer expectations, shifting patient demographics, and workforce needs.

Consider how this information will impact our planning.

• By 2030, the state will face a registered nurse shortage of 4,000 and also will need 1,039 more primary care physicians, based on current utilization rates.
• Currently, one in four Pennsylvanians is over 60 years old. By 2030, this population will grow to four million or one-third of the population.

• A July 2020 national survey revealed that 65 percent of consumers plan to use telehealth more.

Just this small snapshot reveals trends that have the potential to impact everything from how we deliver care, the services we offer and how we create an optimal work environment that will promote our success in the future.

The final draft of the plan will be presented to the Medical Center board in February. Once approved, we will share details more broadly with faculty and staff with a goal for a launch in July, 2021, in the new fiscal year. Every member of the Medical Center family will play a role in moving this work forward.

I look forward to sharing our progress with you and working side-by-side to pave the way for a bright future.

Deborah Berini
Hershey Medical Center President

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