Dear Colleagues:
Everywhere we turn, we see that health care is faced with a bleak financial forecast. NIH funding has been stagnant in recent years, and Congress is asking how much to cut—not add—to the Center for Medicaid Services budget. The local outlook is no different, as our state leaders are looking to reduce health care costs across the board.
Faced with these ongoing challenges, BWH has launched a capital campaign to raise $500 million over six years to ensure our ability to continue investing in infrastructure, technology and research. The recent openings of the Fish Center for Women’s Health and the Bell Center for Breast Imaging are concrete examples of successful investments, and our efforts to build the Shapiro Center and plans to transform the Mass. Mental Health building into a modern research hub are proof of our commitment to push forward.
But we cannot do it without the help and support of the physician and scientist community. Dr. Lawrence Cohn, who successfully led our Cardiac Surgery division for so many years, is chairing the BWH Physician Scientist Fundraising Program, and he needs our help. Through this program, we’re asking our physicians and scientists to learn how to identify patients who may have the financial capacity to help BWH advance our mission of excellent patient care, research and education.
In addition, we are asking our physicians and scientists to give back to BWH. Dr. Cohn plans to measure our own philanthropy participation index, or the “PPI,” as he calls it. If we can engage our colleagues to make financial contributions to the hospital in significant numbers, that would send an incredibly powerful message to potential donors and benefactors.
There are so many people who have the means and inclination to give if they are asked. We’re asking you, please contribute what you can to help us achieve this lofty—but reachable—goal, and ask others to do the same.
Sincerely,
Steven Seltzer, MD
Chairman, BWPO