More than 30 hospital and health system executives discussed their ideas about the transition from volume to value, lowering costs while improving quality, new care delivery models and stakeholder alignment, among other topics, as part of Chicago-based Huron Consulting's Healthcare CEO Forum.
Here are excerpted quotes from five hospital and health system CEOs on their attitudes toward and strategies for board alignment.
Nancy Howell Agee, president and CEO of Carilion Clinic (Roanoke, Va.): "I provide a briefing book to my board every month to try to educate them on the changes happening in the healthcare market in general and in our market."
Gary S. Kaplan, MD, chairman and CEO of Virginia Mason Health System (Seattle): "I believe one of the most underleveraged tools healthcare organizations have is their boards. We have a board skill map, and we recruit actively. We have one well-known governance expert on our board — he comes in for meetings from Chicago. We also have a rule that anyone who joins our board has to participate on a Virginia Mason team for two weeks in Japan to learn about Lean methodology."
Mark Laney, MD, president and CEO of Heartland Health (St. Joseph, Mo.): "Board alignment is really important. Boards are risk-averse, and they have tremendous fiduciary responsibilities. We can't get too far ahead of our boards."
Kevin Schoeplein, CEO of OSF Healthcare System (Peoria, Ill.): "We have three boards that meet together with our system parent board. This invites and assures transparency, open dialogue and fiduciary alignment across the corporate structures."
Dan Wolterman, president and CEO of Memorial Hermann Healthcare System (Houston): "We eliminated advisory boards. We modernized and got rid of the other boards that weren't necessary. We are now down to one parent board and four subsidiary boards."
Strategic Planning in the C-Suite and Board Room: How Hospital Leaders Can Jointly Develop a Roadmap for Success
19 Recommendations for Hospital Boards to Transform Healthcare From AHA
Here are excerpted quotes from five hospital and health system CEOs on their attitudes toward and strategies for board alignment.
Nancy Howell Agee, president and CEO of Carilion Clinic (Roanoke, Va.): "I provide a briefing book to my board every month to try to educate them on the changes happening in the healthcare market in general and in our market."
Gary S. Kaplan, MD, chairman and CEO of Virginia Mason Health System (Seattle): "I believe one of the most underleveraged tools healthcare organizations have is their boards. We have a board skill map, and we recruit actively. We have one well-known governance expert on our board — he comes in for meetings from Chicago. We also have a rule that anyone who joins our board has to participate on a Virginia Mason team for two weeks in Japan to learn about Lean methodology."
Mark Laney, MD, president and CEO of Heartland Health (St. Joseph, Mo.): "Board alignment is really important. Boards are risk-averse, and they have tremendous fiduciary responsibilities. We can't get too far ahead of our boards."
Kevin Schoeplein, CEO of OSF Healthcare System (Peoria, Ill.): "We have three boards that meet together with our system parent board. This invites and assures transparency, open dialogue and fiduciary alignment across the corporate structures."
Dan Wolterman, president and CEO of Memorial Hermann Healthcare System (Houston): "We eliminated advisory boards. We modernized and got rid of the other boards that weren't necessary. We are now down to one parent board and four subsidiary boards."
More Articles on Hospital Leaders and Boards:
Study: U.S. Hospital Boards Less Engaged in Quality Than English CounterpartsStrategic Planning in the C-Suite and Board Room: How Hospital Leaders Can Jointly Develop a Roadmap for Success
19 Recommendations for Hospital Boards to Transform Healthcare From AHA