Resource Library

To prepare for leadership succession, boards must identify talented leaders within the organization, take steps to retain them and develop them well for future roles.

The crisis brewing in the traditional governance model requires conscious construction of new models relevant to new times.

Webinar Making Effective Decisions in Times of Uncertainty and Change: What Boards Need to Know  

This webinar explores elements of fund development where volunteer leaders are most effective, what enables this effectiveness and how trustees and board members can optimize their engagement in advancing philanthropy.

Looking for tips to create – and keep – the board of your dreams? Wondering if that dream can ever become a reality? Curious to know how you can possibly create the board of your dreams if your board members are appointed or placed on your board rather than elected by current directors?

This webinar considers who gives to health care, why they are drawn to the cause and how organizations can support engagement of those most likely to give.

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.