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Information technology can be the catalyst in transforming the health care delivery system

Is participation in a super clinically integrated network (CIN) in your organization’s future? Here are some questions for health care organization boards and leadership to consider.

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.

Serving on the boards of a hospital system and its health plan offers a unique governance perspective. My journey as a student of governance began 10 years ago when I attended a course on board best practices. As president of the Health Plan Alliance in Irving, Texas, I thought this would be a good way to enhance my communication with my own board, which is made up of C-level health plan executives.

The emerging health care environment has changed the game for health care organizations and for physician leadership. The turbulence of that environment is going to require what could be called “agile organizations” adept at matching leadership and decision-making styles and setting and executing strategies appropriate to the nature and depth of environmental change.

Health care governing board members confront a complex and changing financial landscape in their role as stewards of health care organizations. Hospitals and health systems have faced slim bottom lines for an extended period that have reduced available dollars to invest in organizational advancement and forced many to change strategy, forego acquisition of new technology, delay physical plant improvements, reduce services and streamline staff.

Succeeding in the care coordination environment means leaving behind the hospital business model.

Great health care boards primarily focus on enabling their organizations to create innovative solutions that address community needs for improved health and well-being. They also address regulatory, competitive, resource and other challenges that sometimes may seem daunting, but these do not divert them from their primary purpose.

The complexity around physician compensation demands defined, layered board oversight

Executives, trustees and physicians should be the leading advocates of philanthropy.

When someone walks into your hospital, his first impression is created by the physical architecture. But his lasting impression — and what he is most likely to talk about when he returns home — will be determined by what we call the “invisible architecture” of core values, organizational culture and behavioral expectations.

The traditional acute-care hospital is becoming just one of the entities within a larger system that probably includes primary and specialty care clinics, ambulatory care sites, behavioral health care and post-acute care. In addition, the systems may be employing physicians, developing robust philanthropic organizations, developing entrepreneurial businesses, conducting research and offering medical education.

A new business model is emerging to transform the care delivery and payment systems. The transition is underway in many communities — moving health care delivery from emphasizing sick care to addressing population health management.

Much has been written about the resources that hospitals should provide their board members to develop their governance expertise. Generally, a good orientation to the board’s work, educational sessions at board meetings, an annual retreat, periodic attendance at outside educational programs and frequent performance evaluation are some of the basics for any board.

Imagine a health care consumer who dictates his or her own health goals, tracks progress with a wearable medical device or two and who consults provider and social media contacts for advice about interventions, side effects and choices affecting his or her health that could be rewarded financially via insurance policy incentives.

Recruiting board members is a challenge for every hospital and health system, but the task is particularly difficult in small communities. At Benefits Health System, Great Falls, Mont., our pool of candidates is largely limited to the city’s 60,000 residents, despite the fact that we are the tertiary referral center for a population of 250,000 across nearly 40,000 square miles of rural Montana.

With health reform comes increased demand for transparency about organizational performance and accountability. While most hospital and health system senior leaders realize this, board members, surprisingly, may not. As such, boards must have a clear understanding of their accountability to the organization’s stakeholders in order to govern effectively.

The evolving U.S. health care system will demand more standardization, reduced variation in outcomes and lower costs, necessitating new care delivery methods. A variety of models may emerge but physicians are the one constant to any emerging care paradigm, making hospital physician alignment imperative.

This Mind Map, developed in association with innovation partner HDR, depicts a variety of business objectives in healthcare today that are top of mind for healthcare strategists.

The U.S. health care system is quickly moving toward a care delivery model that encompasses entire populations, not just the patients who present themselves for care. This is because many at-risk individuals in the community seldom, if ever, seek treatment or health screenings—and they have a disproportionate impact on total health care spending.