A range of resources already exists to help health system board members understand and fulfill their fiduciary duties and responsibilities effectively. However, two healthcare leaders set out to provide something different.
"What we really see is within healthcare, things are changing at an incredible pace," Maulik Joshi, DrPH, president and CEO of Hagerstown, Md.-based Meritus Health, told Becker's. "So competencies in being a great board member is one thing, but competencies and questions in governing during this time is a whole other set of resources and tools."
That is why Dr. Joshi and Aaron George, DO, associate dean for clinical education for the Meritus School of Osteopathic Medicine, penned the second edition of "Healthcare Transformation: A Guide for the Health System Board Member." The book offers health system board members guidance on their role, as well as updates on industry changes, including evidence and contemporary examples.
"We say, here are some transformations happening in healthcare, and here are the questions you should be asking as a board member in each of those areas," Dr. Joshi said. "The secret of this book is the end, which gives you the 70 questions a board member should be considering when thinking about governance."
Dr. George also noted that health system board members are diversifying, and they come from a spectrum of professions. This means their time is often limited.
"They don't always have time to get up to speed," he said. "We wrote this edition specifically to speak to new board members, as well as long-term and existing board members who wanted a quick primer to bring them up to speed on recent trends that have emerged over the past few years.
"This way, they can step into any board meeting with confidence about common and important areas in healthcare, regardless of where they're coming from or where their system is trying to go."
The book provides 10 transformers/chapters on topics such as population health, health equity, technology, culture and strategy. Each chapter provides key questions for board members to ask, aiming to equip them with insights to engage in meaningful discussions with senior health system leaders.
For example, in the health equity chapter, the authors discuss how Meritus Health stratifies quality data by race, ethnicity and language, Dr. Joshi said.
"We share that data publicly on our website and with local media, so we're transparent about our disparities and working on them," he added. "A board member in another organization might ask, 'Do we share our results publicly?' It's not necessarily the answer, but it's the kind of discussion boards need to have with their executives."
This second edition, published by Routledge, updates all chapters from the 2009 edition and introduces three new transformers/chapters for consideration.
The book is available for purchase on Routledge's website and Amazon.