March 11, 2009 |
Resource Spotlight |
In this edition:
 New Program Seeks to Build Capacity for Tomorrow's Trustees
Panel Develops Core Competencies for Trustees
Competencies in Practice: An Online Survey
Trustee Opportunities at the 2009 AHA Annual Meeting
Speaker Spotlight: Mac McCrary |
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New Program Seeks to Build Capacity for Tomorrow's Trustees |
Now Available! |
 More than 45 Maryland community and business leaders recently took part in a new program to help hospitals increase board diversity and, ultimately, reduce disparities in health outcomes. The program, spearheaded by the AHA's Center for Healthcare Governance and Institute for Diversity in Health Management, works in partnership with the state, regional and metropolitan hospital associations to identify and recruit potential trustees. A one-day workshop explores the principles by which boards operate, trustees' roles and responsibilities, and the challenges and opportunities facing health care organizations. After the workshop, participants' names and resumes are entered in an online database that hospital leaders can search to identify potential board candidates. Local association leaders then work with hospitals and health systems in the area to facilitate placement.
The program is an outgrowth of the AHA's Special Advisory Group to Improve Hospital Care for Minorities -- a panel comprised of national leaders who represent civil rights organizations, hospitals, health care groups, public health, the federal government, academic medicine and health care researchers -- which seeks to determine how the hospital field can improve care for minorities and eliminate disparities in care. "To better address care disparities and to truly support diversity, we need diverse leaders at the hospital board table to raise the issues, guide their resolution, allocate the resources and create a more diverse sense of accountability to our communities," explained Carmela Coyle, president and CEO of the Maryland Hospital Association, which co-sponsored the Feb. 2 session along with the Maryland Department of Health and Mental Hygiene's Office of Minority Health and Health Disparities.
The program debuted last fall in Chicago and already has resulted in several placements among Chicago-area and national health system boards. Sharon Rossmark is among the Chicago workshop attendees who already have begun serving as hospital trustees. After retiring as assistant vice president for agency distribution for Allstate Insurance Company, Rossmark sought a new challenge. A veteran of several local not-for-profit organization boards, she became interested in health care after helping her parents and parents-in-law navigate the elder care system.
"From my standpoint, the complexity of health care and the Medicare process for seniors is just overwhelming," Rossmark explained. "I don't know how my parents and my in laws, who we're helping manage the process, would survive without us... It just seems like it could be so much simpler."
Her background also led her to want to focus on inner-city hospitals and their unique challenges. "I grew up in southern Illinois, in East St. Louis, and I'm very familiar with the issues around health care disparities in inner-city markets, and I've experienced that side of the coin through the years."
According to Rossmark, the AHA program not only met, but exceeded her expectations.
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Healthy Board/
Medical Staff Relationships:
Current Trends & Practices
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Blue Ribbon Panel Report: Competency-Based Governance:
A Foundation for Board and Organizational Effectiveness
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Panel Develops Core Competencies for Trustees of Hospitals and Health Systems
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Educational Events |
Trustee core competencies and how boards can use them to improve performance are the focus of the Trustee Workbook in the April issue of Trustee magazine. The workbook discusses the findings and recommendation of the Blue Ribbon Panel on Trustee Core Competencies and its February 2009 report, Competency-Based Governance: A Foundation for Board and Organizational Effectiveness.
The workbook summarizes the results of the panel's efforts to identify two sets of individual board member core competencies and understand what makes a board an effective team. It also includes recommendations for the field to carry the panel's work forward and to develop educational and other resources to apply these competencies to the work of hospital and health system governing boards.
The panel was convened by the Center for Healthcare Governance and the Health Research & Educational Trust, with funding from Hospira, Inc. Panel members included chief executives and board members of hospitals and health care systems, governance researchers and consultants, and others with expertise in leadership and governance.
The panel intended its report to foster a dialogue among hospital and health system boards about governance performance. It was distributed to all Center members and at the Center's February Symposium on Governing and Leading Healthcare Organizations. Two copies also were sent to the CEOs and board chairs of all AHA member hospitals. For more information about the panel’s report, contact the Center at (888) 540-6111 or visit www.americangovernance.com. |
Fall Symposium on Governing & Leading Healthcare Organizations
September 13-16, 2009
White Sulphur Springs,
West Virginia
Winter Symposium on Governing & Leading Healthcare Organizations
January 17-20, 2010
Naples, Florida
More information on events |
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| Competencies in Practice: An Online Survey |
The Center has begun to carry the work of the panel forward by surveying health care organizations on use of board and executive competencies. An online survey, developed by the Health Research & Educational Trust, the Center and The Corlund Group, was distributed on March 4 to hospital and health system CEOs and board chairs to gain a better understanding of how they use competencies in their governance and leadership practices.
Results of the survey will be used to develop tools and resources for hospitals and systems to support the practice of competency-based governance and leadership. To take the survey now, click here. |
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| Trustee Opportunities at the 2009 AHA Annual Meeting |
Overview | Registration Brochure
Health care is constantly changing and it's important to stay current on the latest news and trends in both health care and health care governance. The AHA Annual Membership Meeting is an excellent opportunity for new and returning board members to do just that.
Attention Center Members!
Center members attending the AHA Annual Membership Meeting April 26-29 in Washington, DC, are invited to join Center President John Combes, M.D., for a special welcome reception Sunday, April 26, at 4 p.m. at the Hilton Washington. The reception will also include a brief update on the current political climate for health care from AHA Vice President for Political Affairs Mark Seklecki.
The Center for Healthcare Governance this year again will sponsor three educational sessions at the meeting, taking place April 26-29 at the Hilton Washington in Washington, DC.
- On Sunday, April 26, James E. Orlikoff, president of Orlikoff & Associates, Inc., will examine the concept of "microgovernance" and outline how boards and CEOs can re-examine and refine a unique and productive governance/management balance that is essential to ongoing organizational success.
- On Monday, April 27, AHA Chair-Elect Rick de Filippi and Center President John Combes, M.D., will provide an overview of the work of the Blue Ribbon Panel on Trustee Core Competencies, convened by the Center and the Health Research & Educational Trust to examine the nature of leadership competencies and how they can be developed and applied to improve health care governance.
- Finally, on Tuesday, April 28, Kathryn J. McDonagh, Ph.D., vice president of executive relations for Hospira Inc., and Mary Totten, president of Totten Associates and the Center's director of content development, will examine how governance culture influences hospitals' performance improvement efforts.
- In addition, on Tuesday, April 28, the Committee on Governance will again sponsor the Trustee Leadership Breakfast: National Political Update. This year they will be joined by former U.S. Senator Alan Simpson of Wyoming, a nearly 20-year veteran of the Senate who served as assistant majority leader from 1984 to 1994.
More Information
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| Speaker Spotlight |
The Center for Healthcare Governance developed Speakers Express to help make the high-caliber speakers and presenters found at its national symposia and regional workshops available to organizations throughout the country. Our speakers are proven professionals who are viewed as the "go-to" leaders in their respective fields of expertise, customizing their presentations to fit the unique needs of each organization.
The Center for Healthcare Governance introduces Mac McCrary, an experienced hospital trustee who has held a number of board leadership positions in hospitals and other healthcare related organizations. Learn more about Mac below.
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| Ask the Governance Expert |
 The Center for Healthcare Governance wants members to be as connected as possible to our governance consultants. Being able to ask questions online and receive responses back quickly will ensure you'll find the answers and resources to help you achieve excellence in health care governance.
Please fill out the Center's Ask the Governance Expert online form with your specific question or request, and you will be contacted within 24 hours with a reply. In addition, please feel free to use this form to submit feedback about the Center's services so that we can better serve you.
Please note that this is a member-only resource. Only submissions by Center members will be answered.
More information on Ask the Governance Expert and the online submission form. |
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| Archived Center News & Updates |
To view archived editions of the Center's bi-weekly email Center News & Updates, click here.
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