Enhancing Quality Oversight: Study Findings Show Hospital Boards Increasingly Focused on Quality Initiatives

Among many changes taking place in the healthcare sector during the last 10 years is the increasing attention of hospitals to quality improvement. In this environment, boards have been called to take up their leadership role in quality oversight. And a recent survey of hospitals and health systems is evidence that boards continue to fulfill this responsibility.

Creating a High-Performing Board: Looking Beyond Individual Competencies to Consider Organizational Needs

What makes a high-performing board? Beyond competencies, maybe it’s more about what the board does—how it allocates time during board meetings, how effective its committees are and how engaged board members are. More and more, we are seeing the word competency used with different meanings, from basic knowledge, abilities and skills (things that can be taught and learned, and the traditional use of the word), to behavioral traits and personality characteristics (things that cannot be taught and are difficult to change). However, for many, confusion still exists. Is competency job knowledge? Is it skills? Is it behavior? Or is it some combination or all of the above?

During the 1990s, hospitals stampeded to affiliate with one another based on the assumption that capitation would soon be the dominant form of payment to providers. Field experience and literature review indicates there were at least as many failures as successes, with failures falling into three categories:

The Evolving Leadership Role of Healthcare Governance: An Interview with James A. Rice, PhD.

Board Oversight of Quality: Any Differences in Process of Care and Mortality?

In response to legal and accreditation mandates as well as pressures from purchasers and consumers for quality improvement, hospital governing boards seek to improve their oversight of quality of care by adopting various practices. Based on a previous survey of hospital presidents/chief executive officers, this study examines differences in hospital quality performance associated with the adoption of particular practices in board oversight of quality.

Enhancing Quality Oversight: Study Findings Show Hospital Boards Increasingly Focused on Quality Initiatives

Among many changes taking place in the healthcare sector during the last 10 years is the increasing attention of hospitals to quality improvement. In this environment, boards have been called to take up their leadership role in quality oversight. And a recent survey of hospitals and health systems is evidence that boards continue to fulfill this responsibility.

Creating a High-Performing Board: Looking Beyond Individual Competencies to Consider Organizational Needs

What makes a high-performing board? Beyond competencies, maybe it’s more about what the board does—how it allocates time during board meetings, how effective its committees are and how engaged board members are. More and more, we are seeing the word competency used with different meanings, from basic knowledge, abilities and skills (things that can be taught and learned, and the traditional use of the word), to behavioral traits and personality characteristics (things that cannot be taught and are difficult to change). However, for many, confusion still exists. Is competency job knowledge? Is it skills? Is it behavior? Or is it some combination or all of the above?

During the 1990s, hospitals stampeded to affiliate with one another based on the assumption that capitation would soon be the dominant form of payment to providers. Field experience and literature review indicates there were at least as many failures as successes, with failures falling into three categories:

The Evolving Leadership Role of Healthcare Governance: An Interview with James A. Rice, PhD.

Board Oversight of Quality: Any Differences in Process of Care and Mortality?

In response to legal and accreditation mandates as well as pressures from purchasers and consumers for quality improvement, hospital governing boards seek to improve their oversight of quality of care by adopting various practices. Based on a previous survey of hospital presidents/chief executive officers, this study examines differences in hospital quality performance associated with the adoption of particular practices in board oversight of quality.