In every industry, profession and market, change is constantly occurring. Therefore, it’s important for any organization to conduct a periodic review of its vision and mission statements. It is essential to ensure that these brief statements remain relevant in changing times, accurately describing an organization’s purpose and strategic direction.

Nowhere is change occurring more rapidly and comprehensively than in the health care system. The implementation of the Affordable Care Act (ACA) involves sweeping changes that are likely to alter the landscape of health care delivery in the U.S. At the same time, the field of sleep medicine is undergoing its own transformation through the rapid adoption of out of center sleep testing (OCST) and a shift in focus toward the long-term management of chronic sleep illness.

In this context the Board of Directors recently reviewed and recalibrated the AASM vision and mission statements as part of a strategic planning process. In an era when complex ideas often have to be condensed to 140 characters or less, words matter more than ever. Therefore, each word in these statements was carefully and intentionally selected to convey an important concept.

Our ultimate goal as a professional medical society is to promote optimal health for patients and the public. This is especially true as our health care system increasingly places greater emphasis on outcomes-based medicine. Furthermore, as sleep medicine professionals who care for one third of human life, we know that sleep is one of the pillars of a healthy lifestyle, directly impacting every aspect of health and well-being. These ideas are reflected in the concise new AASM vision statement: Achieving optimal health through better sleep.

To achieve the lofty goal expressed by our vision, we will continue to empower sleep medicine professionals to thrive in a changing health care system. The AASM has been the leader in sleep medicine since its establishment in 1975, and we will continue to set the pace for the field by providing valuable member services in the core areas of advocacy, education, strategic research and practice standards. Ongoing changes in the health care system also necessitate that we develop new models for coordinated, cost effective, high quality, patient centered care. The new AASM mission statement summarizes these points of emphasis: The AASM improves sleep health and promotes high quality patient centered care through advocacy, education, strategic research, and practice standards.

I hope that you will embrace your professional society’s new vision and mission statements, and I look forward to updating you on how the AASM is bringing these statements to life.

M. Safwan Badr, MD
President