Resource Library

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.

These are exciting and challenging times for board members of not-for-profit health care organizations. The main driver of this state of affairs is a field-wide transformation that promises to result in better quality, higher value, and population health improvement. Most board members see this as a positive move for their organization and community, since their missions often speak to the need to improve the health of the communities they serve.

The following is intended to be an example that boards should adapt to meet their individual needs.

The following is intended to be an example that boards should adapt to meet their individual needs. Effective governance depends on the right mixture of skills, experience, personal qualities and diversity among the members of the hospital board.

This report shares findings from a study of governing physician organizations in developing systems of care. The study is among the first to explore this work from the perspective of physicians, who talk candidly about issues and challenges and provide insights about the evolution of physician involvement in governance and leadership at a historic moment of change in health care.

“No battle plan survives the first contact with the enemy,” goes a military saying, expressed in recent years by Colin Powell. The expression is worth remembering as hospitals and health systems embrace bold strategies to participate in the industry-wide economic shift from rewarding volume to holding providers accountable for the value they deliver.

New research on board structures, practices and culture in large nonprofit systems provides insight into how boards and CEOs are addressing the challenges of change — and changing the way they govern in the process. This workbook explores several themes emerging from review of system documents and 71 on-site interviews with CEOs and senior board leaders in 14 of the country’s 15 largest nonprofit health care organizations.

The AHA’s report on Hospitals and Care Systems of the Future is not intended to be one of those think tank documents that’s quickly forgotten when the next hot idea comes along. The report, which the AHA will update periodically to reflect changing conditions, is designed to help leaders engage in active, thoughtful exchanges about their desired delivery system of the future.

This chair position charter is grounded on a model of healthcare organization governance forwarded in Board Work by Dennis Pointer and James E. Orlikoff (Jossey-Bass,1999).

For boards to participate in shaping their new organization, they must be currently performing at an extremely high level. The following is a list of four practices that hospital and health system boards must be engaged in today, in order to be successful in the future.

A successful governance education process requires commitment, collaboration and consensus. This resource serves as an outline of how a board of trustees may design a process that will ensure optimum development of leadership knowledge and effectiveness.

To maintain the momentum of continuous governance improvement, many "best practices" boards institute regular mini-evaluations of board meetings. Here, each board meeting concludes with every board member anonymously completing a brief evaluation form of how the board planned for and used its time during the meeting.

While the board and management share overall responsibility for organizational leadership, essential duties can and must be clearly defined as either the board's or management's responsibility.

Effective decision making often requires different techniques or approaches for different types of decisions. The following techniques and practices can help support and strengthen your board’s decision-making processes.

Just as the health industry continues to shift care delivery from a volume- to a value-based model, so too must the health care board evolve beyond its traditional fiduciary and core governance responsibilities to encompass a more strategic and global view. The success of this evolving model depends on shared governance—a stronger alignment and engagement among the board, physician leadership and management.