Governance Effectiveness

Trustees of nonprofit health care organizations appreciate that revenue from fee-for-service reimbursement has been the basis for keeping their institutions financially sustainable over many years. Such revenue has provided capital to start new programs, build facilities, recruit physicians and…
Many hospital and health system boards and their leadership teams are at an interesting juncture where each is heavily reliant on the other for strategic support and execution. They have a shared goal of successfully moving their organizations forward at a time when the field is in an overwhelming…
Developing and sustaining hospital-community partnerships are crucial parts of transforming health care and building a "culture of health."
The not-for-profit hospital board and the for-profit clinic board had agreed to create a separate board for the new cancer center joint venture, but negotiations were bogged down. The existing boards had rushed to do the deal because of competition, and now problems arose as they tried to determine…
Governance AHA seeks to strengthen services for trustees The American Hospital Association board of trustees in July approved a plan to strengthen the AHA’s role in supporting good governance in a changing health care environment. The plan is intended to broaden opportunities for…
Trustee talking points Integrated hospitals and health systems hope to achieve all of the benefits of scale, in efficiency, quality and scope. Legacy governing board systems often stand in the way of the changes required to accomplish this, particularly when it comes to leadership. A well-…
It is generally accepted that executive development and succession planning are critical tools in organizational development. Less discussed, however, is what happens when the executive development process leads to a young CEO taking the helm of a complex health care system — often filled…
By now, every health care leader understands that the Affordable Care Act is catalyzing a complete transformation of the field, including reimbursement arrangements, business models and mechanisms for delivering care. This means that we can no longer look in the rearview mirror to inform future…
By now, you, as a hospital board member, are familiar with three terms that are driving much of the transformation underway in our field: value-based care, population health management and the continuum of care. To achieve the goal of improving the quality of the services our organizations…
The decision to align with another health care organization is among the most important, if not the most important, undertakings for a hospital board. Selecting the right partner, strategy, timing and structure all play important roles in determining the ultimate success of an organization and a…