Healthcare has been a challenging highly regulated, highly controlled industry for a long time. And, until 2013 it was possible for the top executives and the boards that oversee them to count on an industry with relative stability and predictability.
However, this changed with the onset of an unprecedented upheaval of reimbursement and changes to standards for quality and safety for patients, which are reshaping how healthcare organizations function to remain competitive. These changes have brought about new challenges for healthcare leadership boards.
In the course of our study, we spoke with opinion leaders who cited three types behaviours of healthcare boards that they believed to be especially important:
A strong board must insist that the right information is available. It should stress the importance of safety and quality goals and give trustees concrete targets. This includes using measures that have been approved by the National Quality Forum and developing a robust strategy for benchmarking that can identify and comprehend the top performers. The goal is to empower trustees to challenge each hospital and system to improve their quality and eliminate medical errors.
The board should also appoint trustees who have experience in Recommended Site safety and quality science (e.g. high reliability, Six Sigma), to serve as chair and members of the board’s Quality Committee. Ideally, these individuals could be drawn from other industries like nuclear power or aviation. This will ensure that the board has an expert who can guide the chief executive officer and other staff members in setting and achieving appropriate targets, and also ensuring that healthcare leadership is doing everything it can to improve its performance.
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