Resource Library

Discover the benefits of shared performance goals at the system level and how to implement them in your executive compensation program with AHA's tips.

Philanthropy can drive innovative initiatives to address social, economic, educational and quality of life issues in the community.

The seismic forces currently roiling health care present boards with a new set of profoundly consequential strategic options. These often involve significant risk, major mission shifts, and challengingly short windows of opportunity.

A good coach focuses on what the board chair wants to accomplish and designs a coaching process based on how the board chair experiences the role; on assessment of individual strengths and weaknesses; and on identifying and addressing blind spots. Each coaching process should be customized to meet the board chair’s individual needs and goals.

Making coaching available to an incoming board chair can build the chair's capacity to lead the board effectively.

Consumerism, personalized medicine, digital technology and artificial intelligence are fundamentally changing the way health care is purchased, delivered and organized.

With proper planning and investment, hospitals and health systems can reduce cyber risks and vulnerabilities.

Hospitals and systems must understand the threats posed by market disruptors and craft specific strategies to protect their missions.

This webinar from governance expert Jamie Orlikoff, explores the hospital board’s crucial responsibility for medical staff credentialing – one of the most difficult governance functions to perform effectively, and one of the most important board responsibilities for patient quality and safety. Become comfortable with the basics of credentialing and how to effectively oversee it to both protect patients and to assure fair, thorough and consistent treatment of physicians. Trustees will acquire a better understanding of the different but related processes involved in appointment and reappointment or physicians to the medical staff, and the delineation of clinical privileges.

Corporate boards, across industry sectors, are increasingly being called upon to support management as the company responds to how innovative competitors “disrupt” their existing business model. Blockbuster, Borders and ESPN are prime examples of established companies that have been pulled into the financial undertow created by nimble disruptors.

A diagnostic tool and organization assessment can help boards address barriers to effective quality oversight.

Health care providers must draw lessons from the core capabilities of successful companies in the internet economy.

Health care is ripe for change. The evidence is all around us. A majority of health care leaders recently surveyed said hospitals and health systems are most in need of disruptive innovation (New England Journal of Medicine Catalyst, February 16, 2017). Consumers are taking charge of their own health and seeking providers that deliver high-quality, affordable and accessible care in ways they have come to expect from their favorite retailers. And disrupters from within and outside of health care are joining forces and competing with traditional health care organizations to give consumers what they are looking for.

Affordability is one of the most important challenges influencing Americans’ ability to access health care. However, no single, agreed-upon definition of health care affordability exists because it is influenced by many complex factors.

Standard Work for Governance Example Source: St. Charles Health System. Used with Permission. Lean principles and practices drive performance improvement by clarifying the steps involved in work processes to avoid wasting time reinventing how work should be done. The board of St. Charles Health System in Bend, Ore., developed “standard work” for several board processes to improve governance performance. An example of standard work for biannual distribution of director stipends appears here.

Topics: Using Competencies in Trustee Selection, Competency-Based Trustee Selection in Action, Using Competencies to Transform Governance

This webinar provides specific examples of and practical tools used by the highest-performing boards as they move toward five categories of advanced governance practices: Visionary, Strategic and ‘System’-focused; Nimble, Streamlined and Clear; Intentional, Disciplined and Consistent; Competency-based, Educated and Evaluated; and Objective, Transparent and Accountable.

Value creation occurs at many levels in organizations. This chart, used by St. Charles Health System based in Bend, Ore., describes the unique role of governance as well the roles of leadership, management and front-line workers in applying Lean principles to support sustained organizational improvement.

By Stephen Mansfield While a clear, bright line between the roles of governance and management does not exist for every issue that boards and organizational leaders must address, defining the relative roles of boards, leaders and managers can enhance governance effectiveness and working relationships.

This webinar examines the best practices of CEO succession planning in a health care setting. Bill Westwood, Senior Client Partner, Korn Ferry presents a thorough description of the process to follow to ensure that succession planning is smooth, efficient and objective. He offers specific recommendations for the roles that each party plays in the process, and what risks should be avoided. Board members, incumbent CEO's and potential CEO's will learn how to prepare for and execute succession planning in their organizations.