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Five ways to harness the committee’s potential and safeguard the mission in challenging times

Example experience scorecard from "The Board's Role in Health Care Experience"

Board members must offer crucial guidance and establish managerial accountability, and in doing so, play a key role in influencing care delivery.

A board that engages 100% of its membership results in effective governance.

One of the strongest predictors of health system performance is the quality of governance that shapes its response in an unstable environment.

Following key strategies for effective CEO performance appraisals are essential to the health care board’s role.

Boards should assess the impact of change on their organization’s executive compensation program and committee practices.

Taking a broader view of “quality” can lead to better performance assessment

Education, preparation and collegiality can empower physician and lay member trustees to make fair and thoroughly vetted decisions.

Setting strategic direction is a basic governance role of the foundation board. The board is responsible for determining the mission, vision and values that are the bedrock of the organization’s strategic framework. The board represents stakeholder interests, so it serves a valuable role in sharing community perspectives and expectations to guide planning. The board must ensure the organization’s goals position it to fulfill the organizational mission and to advance its vision.

Health care is in a period of transformation as reimbursement and delivery systems make the leap from payment based on volume to payment based on value. Philanthropy is playing a role in this transformation.

It is time for the foundation board governance committee to recalibrate orientation to instead offer an impactful and ongoing onboarding experience. This new approach provides fulfilling, meaningful mission experiences to connect new members to the organization’s mission, purpose, culture and stories.

An external review of workplace operations produces a Leadership Letter with observations and recommendations for continuous improvement, followed by open discussion among the board, CEO and top management.

Clarifying accountabilities between management and governance is essential for high performance. Discover best-practice governance principles in this article.

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.

As strategic planning becomes a more intense focus for hospital boards, lessons from publicly traded companies may be instructive.

In today’s health care environment, the need for collaboration has perhaps never been stronger

The role of the board is to govern, not manage, the organization. To that end, the board carries out four roles.

From time to time as provided in the bylaws, the Board may designate the Vice Chairperson as a Chair-Elect. In such cases, the Chair-Elect’s responsibilities go beyond the usual role of a Vice Chair to lead the board in the Chairperson’s absence. The responsibilities of a Chair Elect include...