Trustee Articles
The governance challenges raised in the post-Enron environment are motivating many boards and their general counsels to draft new board policies and tighten up existing ones.
Board self‐evaluation is an important process. Surveys by The Governance Institute have shown that making self‐assessment a board priority is associated with high performing boards. Yet, amidst seemingly more important board business, it’s easy for self‐assessment to become a rote exercise.
These documents are based on CHP’s core values, the CHP board’s roles and responsibilities, and the expectations established for CHP’s board members. They may or may not fit other boards’ situations. Each board should adopt its own individual competencies and evaluation instrument. Reviewing others…
Even before the Enron scandal, which featured directors who didn’t understand the company’s complex financial transactions, and before the Sarbanes‐Oxley Act required publicly owned corporations to disclose whether their boards include directors with financial expertise, it should have been self‐…
Despite the importance of the role, many boards do not give selection and preparation of the board chair the attention they should. In a recent survey by The Governance Institute, 64% of boards said they had established an explicit process for selection of the board chair but these processes often…
Great organizations have great leadership— at the top and throughout their ranks.
In industries where safety is critical and quality must come first, such as airlines and nuclear power, “red rules” refer to protocols that must be followed “to the letter” – all work stops until they are. A commercial airliner doesnʼt leave the gate if the pilot spies a possible leak or flat tire…
The trustees of one health system were divided over how to structure the board. Some favored proportional representation from its acute care, nursing home and elder services divisions; others wanted all at-large members with no interests to promote.
The CEO of another health system had…
In 2009 the AHA’s Blue Ribbon Panel on Trustee Core Competencies identified two sets of competencies that focused on the knowledge, skills and personal capabilities needed by trustees of hospitals and health systems to govern effectively.
Increasing diversity in health care leadership and eliminating care disparities are critical to ensuring high-quality care for all. The renamed Institute for Diversity and Health Equity has created a new model for the American Hospital Association’s (AHA) continued work on these issues and is…