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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.

To understand how the organization really functions on a day-to-day basis, boards need to gauge the hospital’s work life and its efficacy. Board responsibilities include: (a) understanding the hospital’s operating model and whether it actually performs in that mode, how critical decisions are made, and the hospital’s ability to recognize its own problems and “self-correct”; and (b) ensuring that it happens.

By tracking outcomes, the committee can ensure that the program operates consistently with the established philosophy and that areas requiring attention are readily identified. When combined with comprehensive tally sheets and affirmation that all executive compensation arrangements are fully disclosed to the committee, there is a comprehensive baseline underlying the committee’s deliberations.

As health care organizations face a number of emerging challenges, the compensation committee of the not-for- profit hospital and health system board is well served to review and update the executive compensation program periodically.

As hospitals and health systems realign their strategic objectives, executive compensation programs must evolve to support the organization's mission. Your board's compensation committee should determine if corresponding actions or updates are necessary.

Philanthropy can drive innovative initiatives to address social, economic, educational and quality of life issues in the community.

The seismic forces currently roiling health care present boards with a new set of profoundly consequential strategic options. These often involve significant risk, major mission shifts, and challengingly short windows of opportunity.

A good coach focuses on what the board chair wants to accomplish and designs a coaching process based on how the board chair experiences the role; on assessment of individual strengths and weaknesses; and on identifying and addressing blind spots. Each coaching process should be customized to meet the board chair’s individual needs and goals.

Making coaching available to an incoming board chair can build the chair's capacity to lead the board effectively.

Consumerism, personalized medicine, digital technology and artificial intelligence are fundamentally changing the way health care is purchased, delivered and organized.

With proper planning and investment, hospitals and health systems can reduce cyber risks and vulnerabilities.

Webinar Tax-Exempt Hospital Requirements: "Community Health Needs Assessments"  

Boards need to assess troubled areas in their organizations, set goals for improving the culture, and hold leaders accountable for change.

While your organization may strive to improve safety, patient experience, workforce engagement and clinical quality as discrete performance domains, your leadership — and your resources — may be convened around multiple strategies and action plans. Without a single strategy that aligns improvement efforts and acts on the interdependencies of vertical domains, siloed planning can undermine workforce coordination and sustainable change.

Boards can foster patient-centered care by encouraging meaningful conversations during patient encounters and by incentivizing clinicians.

The template is designed to help a hospital or health system develop profiles of disruptive competitors that are already in its service area (or are anticipated to enter its service area). An interactive MS Word document of this template with fields is available.

Utah-based Intermountain Healthcare continues to transform itself to best adapt to the demands of the changing health care environment. As part of the current transformation, the health system has organized its leadership to optimize the interdependencies of safety, quality, patient experience and workforce engagement. Under this construct, the system streamlines decision making, minimizes waste and redundancy, and positions the organization to deliver exceptional patient-centered care.

Hospitals and systems must understand the threats posed by market disruptors and craft specific strategies to protect their missions.

This webinar from governance expert Jamie Orlikoff, explores the hospital board’s crucial responsibility for medical staff credentialing – one of the most difficult governance functions to perform effectively, and one of the most important board responsibilities for patient quality and safety. Become comfortable with the basics of credentialing and how to effectively oversee it to both protect patients and to assure fair, thorough and consistent treatment of physicians. Trustees will acquire a better understanding of the different but related processes involved in appointment and reappointment or physicians to the medical staff, and the delineation of clinical privileges.

Corporate boards, across industry sectors, are increasingly being called upon to support management as the company responds to how innovative competitors “disrupt” their existing business model. Blockbuster, Borders and ESPN are prime examples of established companies that have been pulled into the financial undertow created by nimble disruptors.