As health care policy changes affect the care available to our patients, TSFRE continues to support the education in public policy of our surgeons so that we can secure the best patient care possible. Recently, the value of our engagement in this arena was acknowledged by the American Board of Thoracic Surgery, which has approved the acceptance of CME credits earned through our Harvard Executive Course at the Kennedy School of Government. We are pleased with this development and are encouraged by the growing efficacy of the Harvard Course and the wealth of opportunities that have emerged as a result of the knowledge gained from the program. To that end, the Education Committee is supporting efforts that will broaden the scope of opportunities available to our colleagues who work diligently to acquire knowledge of health care policy.
We have been gratified by the responses of those CT surgeons who have taken the Executive Course at Harvard, who consistently rate the course very highly. However, as overall funding for TSFRE programs decreased this year, the Committee sought to provide inexpensive modes of continuing the educational advances that our colleagues seek. In addition to providing Alley-Sheridan scholarship support for 15 surgeons to take the Executive Course in May of 2001, and supporting two 2001 Alley-Sheridan Sabbatical Scholars in their work toward the MPA degree at Harvard, TSFRE is engaged in two more promising education initiatives.
Juan A. Sanchez, MD, one of our Alley-Sheridan Scholars-in-Residence, is engaged in preparing a Health Care Policy Curriculum for Residents. This curriculum will provide a starting point for all thoracic surgery residents to gain a basic working understanding of how the current and evolving health care system relates to the care they provide for their patients. Dr. Sanchez plans to make this information available as an easily-navigated, web-based format that will allow surgeons to read about a topic, and gain access to additional information with the use of an extensive record of links on each subject. The web-posting of this information is nearing completion. This distance learning will equip the next generation of our peers with the basic tools for understanding policy, which will improve the quality of care we provide our patients.
In addition to Dr. Sanchez's work, Dr. Richard Rouse has also helped to initiate a Health Care Policy Discussion Forum. This free forum, which is currently undergoing internet beta-testing with a small group of surgeons, will allow CTSNet users to discuss healthcare topics with their peers. After Dr. Rouse's extensive work, the venue will provide a meeting place for discussants to engage in distance learning with one another, sharing their questions, problems and ideas around various policy topics. Furthermore, it will also allow for authors of the works discussed to comment on issues rasied during the discussion. We anticipate that this will further encourage the continuing education that our specialty needs in the health care arena, and allow many of the topics covered in the Harvard Executive Course to be explored in even greater depth.
Dr. Edgar Feinberg is deeply involved in plans to initiate a TSFRE Journal Club for those surgeons interested in meeting face-to-face to discuss the policy issues and scholarly works related to health care. The first journal article to be discussed will be the special issue of The Journal of Health Politics, Policy and Law, vol. 26, Number 5, October, 2001. This issue contains Kenneth Arrow's 1963 article, "Uncertainty and the Welfare Economics of Medical Care," which is a seminal contribution to the health care policy field.
In summary, TSFRE is engaged in promising new initiatives that will help to support the specialty and the patients we serve. The support of TSFRE has been critical to the growth of these educational pursuits, and is worthy of your support as it provides venues that will allow the specialty to increase the quality of care we provide and the vitality of the specialty overall.