Governance Practices in an Era of Health Care Transformation

As boards navigate between today’s fragmented, volume-focused health care system and a system that is more integrated and value-driven, there are plenty of issues that keep trustees up at night (see Figure 1). Are the transformational changes now confronting health care organizations affecting the way boards govern?

In 2012 the AHA Center for Healthcare Governance, with generous support from Hospira, Inc., talked with two hospitals and two health care systems (see box below) and convened a national panel of governance experts to explore “governance in the gap.” Thirtyseven board members, executives and clinical leaders from these organizations talked candidly about critical governance and leadership challenges and how boards are evolving to guide their hospitals and health systems through the profound changes now underway. Panel members distilled key learnings from the interviews and added perspective about what all boards can do to enhance their effectiveness in these transformative times.

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