Operational Excellence
Health care governance education transformed immeasurably for the better during my 36-year career with the Arkansas Hospital Association. Almost four decades ago, board members were chosen for their prominence in the community. They met and enjoyed a nice lunch or dinner on the third Thursday of…
Health care must become more diverse in its leadership, governance and staff, and it must work hard to eliminate disparities in care. Here’s why:
Changing America:
• Half of all children in the U.S. will be nonwhite by 2020
• The majority of the population will be nonwhite by 2044
The headline on this month’s cover story can be taken in a couple of ways, but there’s one important way you as a board member should not take it. As the article makes clear, experience matters when it comes to running a hospital. A thorough understanding of health…
To meet the changing needs of our communities, hospitals are working hard to make sure that every individual receives the highest quality of care. To achieve that goal as our nation becomes increasingly diverse, we must redouble our efforts to identify and eliminate disparities in care.
Hospitals can build stronger connections to the community through popular social media sites and apps. Some hospitals are hiring full-time and freelance journalists to write stories and produce videos on health trends, news of the day and the hospital itself.
“We’re updating the site with two to…
Snapshot The dashboard is a quick, comprehensive way to keep trustees informed on hospital performance. But don’t neglect to update it as care and payment models change. Board members who stick with the status quo and allow their dashboards to ossify risk missing the…
The two other most common payment models are Medicaid contracts with states or through a Medicaid health plan (60 percent) and direct contractual relationships with employers (24 percent), according to the American Hospital Association’s 2014 Survey of Care Systems and Payment…
Florida's Lee Memorial Health System is using several strategies to connect emergency department patients with mental health and/or substance abuse problems to the outpatient care they need.
Emergency physicians have noticed an increase in the volume of emergency department patients since the implementation of the Affordable Care Act on Jan. 1, 2014, according to a survey of American College of Emergency Physicians members. The poll, which sought to understand changes in ED patient…
Boards have a keen interest in quality, and they are helping their hospitals and systems to implement a variety of improvement strategies. One particularly effective tactic is building successful partnerships with patients and families by including patient and family advisers. A new guide from the…