It is my distinct privilege to serve as your President and Chair for this year. My predecessor, Craig Cordola, has set the bar high during his successful tenure. However, with the exceptional talent we have among our members I believe together we can realize an outstanding year of accomplishments and make a difference in the value we provide our members.
Our mission for 2009 is to effectively reach and share educational information with the majority of our 1000 plus members throughout the southeast Texas region. In addition, our focus will continue to be on current issues affecting our profession.
The theme for our 2009 quarterly educational sessions is “Advancing Health Care Reform”. The continuing debate over health care reform centers around questions of access, fairness, efficiency, quality, and sustainability. As you are probably aware, health care in the United States is the most expensive in the world, costing more per capita than in any nation. Current estimates put US health care spending at approximately 16% of gross domestic product.1, 2 According to a 2008 report, among developed countries, the US ranks last in the quality of health care.3 The US is the only wealthy, industrialized nation that does not have a universal health care system. These issues and many more about the efficiency of our current health care system will be explored as we begin our first quarterly education session (February 12th) with a panel discussion comprised of business leaders from the Greater Houston Partnership.
If you are new to our Chapter or website we encourage you to learn about our services, leaders, numerous committees, and sponsors that support our events throughout the year. There are many opportunities for you to become involved in ACHE – SETC’s activities. We welcome your participation and appreciate your feedback that helps us improve the value we offer as a premier professional chapter of ACHE national.
We look forward to your joining us. I hope to see you at each of our events.
Warmest Regards,
Ed
- World Health Statistics 2008: Global Health Indicators. World Health
- Organization. 2008. National Health Expenditure Data: NHE Fact Sheet.
- Health care in US ranks lowest among developed countries (http://www.bmj.com/cgi/content/extract/337/jul21_1/a889)