Resource Library

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.

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.

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

This 2014 National Health Care Governance Survey includes many questions from previous surveys that allow insightful comparisons of governance evolution over time. It also probes new areas to enable a better understanding about how hospital and health system boards are preparing for and responding to the transforming health care environment.

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

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

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

A hospital-physician network spanning multiple partners may be an ideal fit for a smaller system

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.

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

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.

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.

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.