Vital Times 2017 - 6

The President's Page
By Karen Sibert, MD, FASA | CSA President

eople often say, when they
have young children, that the
days are long but the years are
short. The same could be said
of the experience of being CSA
President. It's only a one-year
term, and mine is already more
than half over. The days have been
full, and we have been busy! It is a great honor to serve
the Society, and to report on all that has been going on
since our House of Delegates met in June.
We never want to take our members for granted. We
realize that the profession is going through a time of
radical change, with the absorption of many small
private practices into large, corporate-managed groups.
We realize that hospitals are under financial strain, and
are looking at anesthesiology subsidies with a critical
eye. Some physician-only groups have been ousted by
their hospitals and replaced by care teams with new
leadership from outside.
With all these changes in rapid progress, it makes sense
that the needs of our members are changing too. We
asked ourselves if CSA is providing the resources that
members need today, and realized that we don't really
know the full answer to that question.

Market Research
In September, we authorized and initiated our firstever market research project, engaging the services
of a leading firm, Association Laboratory, to do an
in-depth analysis of California anesthesiologists.
They will look at the demographic distribution of our
members, where they practice, what they perceive as
the strengths of CSA, and where we can improve in

6 | CSA Vital Times

the services and resources we provide.
For years, CSA's districts have been organized by
geography, with 14 districts, each with its own District
Director. Every 10 years, our bylaws direct us to
reconsider if these districts are meeting member needs.
Do members chiefly define themselves professionally
by where they practice? Or by other criteria: age,
academic or private practice, large group or small?
Should the CSA's districts align with legislative
districts to facilitate advocacy? Could we define
delegates and District Directors in some different way,
making members feel that their personal interests are
represented more meaningfully?
As it is time once again to revisit the makeup of our
districts, I have asked CSA President-elect Sam Wald,
MD, MBA, to establish a Task Force on Redistricting to
consider these questions. Dr. Wald's group will factor
in the results of the market research project in making
recommendations to the Board and the House of
Delegates about whether or not to change the current
districts, and the best way to proceed.
One message from our members that we have
heard and acted on is the desire for a "job board"
on our website that will give members an easy way
to learn about and connect with available positions
in anesthesiology. We have signed a contract with
YourMembership, Inc., a firm that specializes in
association management software including career
center development. We look forward to implementing
this software on our website early in 2018. David
Butler, our Executive Director, explains more about it
in his report.

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of Vital Times 2017