Roger W. Witalis, FACHE, President, WITALIS & Company, Inc.
This content-rich interactive workshop for new board members provides a thorough briefing on today’s challenges and strategies for hospital and health system governance. Board roles, responsibilities, and duties are reviewed in the context of contemporary “best practices.”

James A. Rice, Ph.D., FACHE, Vice Chairman, The Governance Institute
Recent Governance Institute research has isolated a series of essential structures and behaviors of high-performing hospital and health system boards. Dr. Rice will discuss these strategies and how your organization can explore the best application for your situation.

Eric D. Lister, M.D., Managing Partner, Ki Associates
This session will address evolving hospital–physician relationships, the ongoing debate over the future of the organized medical staff as we know it, the move toward physician employment, and the desperate social need for physicians and hospitals to create alignment. Dr. Lister will introduce the critical component that physicians need to develop in order to lead the change that must come.

Fred Lee, Owner, Fred Lee & Associates, Inc.
Patient satisfaction surveys focus on attributes that measure satisfaction, but not those that create loyalty. Mr. Lee will share a chapter from his bestselling healthcare book, If Disney Ran Your Hospital, revealing the secret of making a patient’s experience go from good to great.

Marian C. Jennings, M.B.A., M. Jennings Consulting, Inc.
Leaders of hospitals and health systems have a seemingly never-ending list of capital needs. This session will focus on the role of the board in establishing strategic, financial, and capital policies to support long-term strategic and financial success.

Marian C. Jennings, M.B.A.
Consumer-driven health plans. Medicare reform. State-led reform initiatives. Will these fundamentally change hospital payment, and if so, how? This session will examine the economics and politics behind a potential payment revolution and the likely impact on hospitals.

Fred Lee
Like Disney, hospitals are not service organizations. In this session, Mr. Lee will explain why doing what they do at Nordstrom, The Ritz-Carlton, Marriott, and other great service organizations cannot take a hospital to greatness. Insights will include a new approach to patient loyalty based on concepts inspired by Disney.

Roger W. Witalis, FACHE, Robert Meyer, President & CEO, Phoenix Children’s Hospital, Ronald Brown & Patricia Stark, Former Board Chairs, Phoenix Children’s Hospital
Starting with the dream of a small group of truly caring individuals, Phoenix Children's Hospital has become one of the most successful and respected free-standing children’s hospitals in America. Join the hospital’s board leaders and CEO in a powerful discussion of their road to success. Listen to the “lessons learned” in the transformation of a near bankrupt situation into a shining example of governance and management leadership at its best.

Eric D. Lister, M.D.
Dr. Lister will frame the issues underlining the problems confronting American hospitals, describe the duties of the board, and outline an approach to governance that accomplishes these duties. Dr. Lister will focus on the role of the board quality committee, the dashboard that supports that work, and the issues less amenable to dashboard metrics but important to the oversight function of the board.

Eric D. Lister, M.D.
This interactive discussion will focus on three critical issues integrating quality and safety efforts, allocating responsibilities and duties among the board, its quality committee, management, and the medical staff, and engaging physician partnership in the quality journey.

Russell P. Massaro, M.D., FACPE, President, RPM Health Group International, LLC
Dr. Massaro will discuss the implications and strategies needed today to be prepared for healthcare in 2020. This interactive session will evoke ideas and concepts needed to make quality and safety the business strategy, while also understanding the need for cohesion among trustees and medical staff leaders in order to overcome barriers and achieve success.

Edward A. Kazemek, Chairman & CEO, ACCORD LIMITED
The integrity of not-for-profit organizations is under attack. The public and government continue to question how boards are performing their oversight responsibilities and are demanding answers. Mr. Kazemek will explain how we got here and identify best board practices for dealing with these pressures, including conflict of interest issues.

Guy M. Masters, M.P.A., Senior Vice President, The Camden Group
Turbulent times create chaos for some and opportunity for others. The main challenges for leaders is to clarify vision, set effective strategy, connect with key constituencies, and help people achieve great results. This session will focus on how to allocate and leverage scarce resources for optimal return. Learn five essential strategies for 2009. As a healthcare leader you will never look at your strategic financial and operating plans the same again.

Douglas M. Mancino, Partner, McDermott Will & Emery, LLP
“Good governance" has been a hot topic for nonprofit organizations and many parties have offered their views as to what it means—from the Panel on the Nonprofit Sector, to the Internal Revenue Service, to Congressional committees. This session will take a critical view of these recommendations and discuss those that work and those that do not, or are inappropriate for nonprofit hospitals and health systems.

Douglas M. Mancino
As the relevance of charity care to continued income and property tax exemption persists, the Senate Finance Committee has announced it will review the issue again in 2009. This session will discuss the issue including the recent revocation of the property tax exemption of Provena Covenant Medical Center and Provena Hospitals in Illinois.

Guy M. Masters, M.P.A.
This session will discuss the nuts and bolts of results-oriented strategic and service line planning—forms, checklists, templates, processes, and advice for growing volume and revenue in key service lines (e.g., cardiac, orthopedics, women’s, oncology, neurosciences).

James A. Rice, Ph.D., FACHE
Boards and executives struggle to engage physicians in the strategic affairs of the healthcare system. New tools and studies are now being used to engage the board, medical staff, and executive leaders by focusing on "critical conversations," to enhance the productive relationships needed to create superior patient and visitor experiences. This interactive session will explore new techniques and insights into the development of positive patient experience.

Susan A. Cejka, Managing Partner, Grant Cooper & Associates
It is inarguable that hospitals and physicians believe that true partnership would be better for patients, better for the hospital, and better for physicians. Only power, money, and control stand in the way. This session will offer strategies to overcome the seemingly impenetrable barriers and bring hospitals and physicians together in a “win-win” partnership.

Bruce Clark, D.P.H., Cofounder, Impact Presentation Group/Age Wave, LLC
Healthcare is unprepared for the consumer of the future—the older adult. From mass dementia and the caregiving crisis, to intergenerational equity and the reinvention of work and retirement; we are on uncharted ground. Is our delivery system designed for this future? This presentation will reveal what recent research shows about this new mature consumer; their unique demands on healthcare providers and the new services they will seek.