Turning Challenges Into Opportunities

Paramount in the planning process is alignment with our Mission, Vision and Values. The mission is the starting point for planning, the vision is the destination, the values guide our actions along the way. The strategic plan serves as the roadmap that helps us to navigate from where we are to where we aspire to be.

As powerful trends continue to reshape the healthcare landscape, health systems across the country face an ever-increasing number of challenges and opportunities. Nearly overnight, the COVID-19 pandemic thrust patients and caregivers headfirst onto virtual platforms and other digital technologies that many had previously approached with hesitation.

In addition, new nontraditional players are entering and transforming the healthcare industry, including financial and insurance institutions, pharmacies and drug-makers, technology firms and digital startups. Meanwhile, consumers continue to raise the bar as they demand more information about diagnoses, treatments and costs – and more convenient access to high quality care outside hospital settings.

At the community level, providing equitable access to healthcare for all, including the most vulnerable, will require more focused strategies that drive innovative growth and efficiency, while at the same time address the individual needs of diverse populations. To craft our Strategic Plan - Forward Together, we gathered the perspectives of hundreds of clinical, management and frontline employees from throughout our organization. We conducted dozens of personal interviews, focus groups and planning sessions across every segment of our vast audiences – both internally and externally. A strategic planning committee of the St. Joseph’s Board of Trustees, with support from medical and administrative leadership, provided the guidance along the way.

The purpose of the Strategic Plan is to provide strategic, operational, and financial priorities to guide St. Joseph’s Health over the next several years. As noted, the details of the plan were developed through collaborative efforts with multiple stakeholders and audiences, supported by quantitative and qualitative data and insights obtained and reviewed in the planning process, and incorporated in to our final document. In a rapidly changing environment, traditional strategic plans often fail when they are not flexible enough to adapt to dynamic change. The traditional approach to planning operates in stages, such as annual reviews, and does not allow for iterations. With rapid and continual change, it can be challenging to create a strategic plan that remains relevant over time. Forward Together was designed as an adaptive strategic plan that will enable St. Joseph’s Health to withstand the speed of change — incorporating a continuous strategic planning process that adjusts to dynamic environments. This adaptive  nature will allow our organization to remain keenly focused on the value delivered to our stakeholders, while at the same time remaining on course to achieving our desired future state.

The new St. Joseph’s Health Strategic Plan comprises three Strategic Priorities that look at the highest level of need and change for our organization. They address the deeply meaningful areas of equity, access and innovation – challenging us to elevate our thinking, behaviors and actions. The Plan also includes five Foundational Priorities that encompass our traditional areas of focus and attention as we look to sustain our proud 153 year Mission. Our previous strategic plan transformed St. Joseph’s into a comprehensive healthcare system, and we now stand at the beginning of the next evolution of our organization as we strive to seize the opportunities presented among this ever-changing landscape.