Governance Effectiveness
The women and men who work in America’s hospitals witness the toll of the opioid epidemic on patients and the health of their communities every day.
While prescription opioids can be a safe and necessary part of pain management, these drugs also carry serious risks of harm because of the…
Health care delivery and payment are undergoing profound change. But embedded in this transformation is a broader focus on improving overall health and quality of life in the communities health care organizations serve.
This expanded purpose is being expressed in a number of ways,…
Early in your education, you learned the difference between cause and effect. Cause is why something happens. Effect is what happens or, better stated, the consequences.
Unfortunately, cause and effect are often confused in business, particularly when it comes to retirement benefits planning.…
In today's environment of change and transformation, some nonprofit hospitals and health systems are considering the possibility of selling to for-profit providers. A central concern for boards engaged in strategic deliberations about a potential sale is preserving the charitable mission,…
The community health needs assessment has the potential to be a transformative driver for understanding and addressing the health needs of a hospital’s patient population — and meeting population health goals.
Hospitals and health systems throughout the country face many of the same challenges. One of the most dangerous — and almost always overlooked (if an organization is even aware of it) — is the persistent use of inconsistent terminology.
When there are a lack of rules guiding…
AHA Resources
Understanding board’s role in hospital–physician relations
The American Hospital Association's Center for Healthcare Governance invites hospital executives, board members, clinical leaders and others to view a three-part webinar to help health systems continually…
Hospitals and health systems are under attack from new forms of viruses every day.
But some of these viruses don’t attack the human body. As recent news reports have highlighted, hospitals and health systems are now prime targets for malicious malware viruses that seek to infiltrate…
Spectrum Health, a Michigan health care system serving both urban and nonurban areas, is striving to quantify the benefits that community health workers provide to patients with chronic conditions. The initiative demonstrates how wide-ranging health care networks like Spectrum can adapt specific…
Relationships between health systems and physicians have undergone significant change in recent years as the health care field transforms into a value-based system of quality, patient satisfaction and cost effectiveness. As health care organizations seek the clinical integration necessary to…