The Center for Healthcare Governance has partnered with the Health Research and Educational Trust (HRET) to convene Blue Ribbon Panels to examine critical issues facing health care boards and practices that lead to exceptional governance. The BRP reports include panel recommendations as well as sample tools and resources to implement them. These reports are intended to foster broader dialogue and sharing, among healthcare organizations and their boards, of perspectives and resources to further strengthen and improve health care governance.
Summaries: 2012 Blue Ribbon Panel Report | 2009 Blue Ribbon Panel Report | 2007 Blue Ribbon Panel Report
Transformational Governance: Best Practices for Public and Nonprofit Hospitals and Health Systems
This publication, authored by Larry Gage, Senior Counsel in the Washington, D.C. office of the law firm of Alston + Bird, LLP and Senior Advisor to the healthcare industry group of the consulting firm of Alvarez and Marsal, provides a comprehensive overview of the legal and governance structures of safety net hospitals and health systems. It also discusses the role of trustees in preparing their organizations to achieve transformational governance.
Gage reviews the issues public hospitals must consider in determining whether to restructure to reduce costs, improve quality and safety and gain access to capital. He profiles more than 30 examples of restructured safety net hospitals and systems and shares perspectives from executives and board members about the special challenges these organizations face in continuing to provide care for our country’s most vulnerable people.
This publication also provides an overview of key trends that safety net and nonprofit hospital boards and leaders must be familiar with to govern effectively in transformative times. It concludes with a discussion of best practices all boards should have in place to ensure governance accountability and transparency.
Download the report (registration required)
2012 Blue Ribbon Panel Report: Governance Practices in an Era of Health Care Transformation
In 2012 the AHA Center for Healthcare Governance, with generous support from Hospira, Inc., talked with two hospitals and two health care systems and convened a national panel of governance experts to explore “governance in the gap.” Thirtyseven board members, executives and clinical leaders from these organizations talked candidly about critical governance and leadership challenges and how boards are evolving to guide their hospitals and health systems through the profound changes now underway. Panel members distilled key learnings from the interviews and added perspective about what all boards can do to enhance their effectiveness in these transformative times.
This report shares perspectives about “governance on the ground” at specific organizations, with an eye toward identifying themes and views that will resonate with all hospitals, health systems and their boards. It also offers recommendations for what boards can do to enhance their own effectiveness and steps they can take to provide stronger leadership for organizational transformation.
2009 Blue Ribbon Panel Report: Competency-Based Governance: A Foundation for Board and Organizational Effectiveness
Funded by global specialty pharmaceutical and medication delivery company Hospira, Inc, the Blue Ribbon Panel on Trustee Core Competencies was convened in 2008 to build on the earlier panel’s work:
- to identify individual board member core competencies common to different types of boards that can be used to improve board and organizational performance; and
- to provide guidance and direction for the field in developing educational and other resources that can be used to apply these competencies to the work of hospital and health system governing boards.
Panel members drew on their own experiences and reviewed work done by others to develop board and leadership competencies for both for-profit and not-for-profit organizations. In addition to developing individual board member competencies, the panel also considered what makes a board an effective team and identified tools and resources to help boards begin to apply competencies to health care organization governance. This report also includes recommendations for boards, educators and researchers, and tools to carry the panel’s work forward to help the field better understand and practice competency-based governance.
For more information or to order, contact the Center at 888-540-6111 or email at info@americangovernance.com
2007 Blue Ribbon Panel Report: Building an Exceptional Board: Effective Practices for Health Care Governance
In 2007, the Health Research and Educational Trust (HRET), with funding from Russell Reynolds Associates and the Center for Healthcare Governance, convened a Blue Ribbon Panel comprised of 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 identified and focused their deliberations on five areas they believed were critical to effective governance:
- Being an Accountable Board: Earning and Maintaining the Public’s Trust;
- Building and Sustaining a Proactive and Interactive Board Culture;
- Laying a Foundation for Effective Decision-Making: Board Meetings and Information for Governing;
- Focusing the Board on Key Governance Priorities; and
- Clarifying Authority and Responsibility: The Buck Stops Where?
The Center is proud to have participated in and to have helped fund the panel’s efforts. We know you will find the report a valuable resource in your board’s journey toward exceptional governance. The 2007 report is available for download free of charge. Please use the links below to view, download, or purchase a hard copy of the report.
View report & available tools
For more information or to order, contact the Center at 888-540-6111 or email at info@americangovernance.com
Blue Ribbon Panel Presentation
For your next governance event, consider inviting Center president John R. Combes, M.D. to join you and share the findings and resources developed by the Blue Ribbon Panel on Health Care Governance and the Blue Ribbon Panel on Trustee Core Competencies. For more information, contact speakers@americangovernance.com.
Help Expand Governance Resources!
In an effort to expand upon the panel’s governance improvement resources, we are asking organizations to share their governance tools and resources that they have found effective. Examples might include performance dashboards, orientation and board member recruiting approaches or resources, sample board policies and procedures, board member expectations, board member or leader job descriptions, board meeting evaluation tools, use of trustee competencies in governance practices, or any other resources your board has found to be helpful.
* All resources will be posted without restriction in our contribution and resource areas of the Web site. Please email us at info@americangovernance.com with your submissions.