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Health Care in Transition: Topics for Trustees

This series, "Health Care in Transition: Topics for Trustees," is offered free of charge by the AHA's Center for Healthcare Governance. Each 20- to 30-minute program consists of an audio recording with synched slides on one topic, discussion questions for use by the board after viewing the program, and supplemental resources. They can be accessed via an Internet connection for immediate play or downloaded to your computer. Topics include: 1) Readmissions, 2) Value-based Purchasing, and 3) Bundled Payments.

Federal Quality Update

Hospitals are being increasingly held accountable for their performance as the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services begins to implement value-based purchasing, along with new expectations for readmissions and patient satisfaction. In this 20-minute session, Mary Therriault, HANYS’ Senior Director of Quality and Research Initiatives, reviews emerging federal pay-for-performance initiatives. She provides trustees with a basic understanding of what their organizations will need to do to succeed in a new environment where outcomes and payments are closely linked.

This program is available to members only on DVD for just $10 (to cover shipping and handling).
Quantities are limited.

Medicare Fundamentals for Trustees

This four-part audio series features Gloria Kupferman, HANYS Solutions' Vice President of National Information Products. The programs are available on DVDs or as downloadable files, and are ideal for education sessions at board meetings. Each program discusses various aspects of the Medicare program, which covers over 45 million Americans and is rapidly growing. These programs are designed to assist trustees in understanding the complex financial structure that hospitals operate within. The programs can be listened to individually or as part of the complete series.

• The Medicare Program: History, Policy, Issues
• Patient Data and Billing
• How the Medicare Program pays for Inpatient Care
• How the Medicare Program Pays for Hospital Outpatient Services and Special Rural Providers

These DVDs are available to non-members for $169 each, or the set of four DVDs for $550. Please call (800) 360-7211 to order.

Building High Performance Governance: Seven Leadership Habits of Highly Effective Governing Boards - Trustee Foundations series

Hospital governing boards do not become excellent by chance. They build excellence by purposefully practicing key leadership "habits" that work together synergistically to ensure long-term leadership effectiveness.

This program explores hospital governing “leadership habits” that boards should practice. Each leadership habit has a number of underlying supporting components that are carried out with purposeful governance practices. Adherence to these habits will ensure the right focus on the right issues and challenges, in the right way, at the right time. Boards that pay close attention to practicing these leadership habits will find that their governance processes will improve, their leadership skills will be enhanced, and the quality of their governance decision-making and strategic focus will be sharpened.

The Board's Fiduciary Responsibility - Trustee Foundations series

As the ultimate authority for the hospital, the governing board sets the overall agenda and charts the course for the future. The board is responsible for operational effectiveness, strategic direction, establishing and nurturing the corporate culture, supporting the chief executive officer's success, and maintaining a careful balance between meeting community needs and ensuring financial viability. To accomplish this, each board member must provide strong, insightful, and balanced leadership.

This program explores ways trustees fulfill the three main fiduciary responsibilities: the duties of care, loyalty, and obedience. It also describes common roadblocks to a board's ability to maintain fiduciary effectiveness.

The Board's Role in Building Constructive Hospital/Medical Staff Relationships - Trustee Foundations series

The hospital/medical staff relationship should be a trusting partnership, where the medical staff and hospital work closely and collaboratively to provide quality care for patients. Hospitals and medical staffs have differing perspectives and unique cultures, which can lead to a disconnect between the two.

This program will discuss actions boards can take to improve hospital/medical staff alignment to build a strong, high-functioning relationship between the hospital and medical staff.

This program highlights:

• the challenges associated with building and maintaining a healthy and productive hospital/medical staff relationship;
• what causes misalignment;
• steps to build alignment;
• specific ideas to build trust; and
• the role of the board in creating a culture of collaboration, consensus, and commitment.

The Board's Role in Strategic Planning - Trustee Foundations series

Mapping a course for the hospital's future is one of the most important responsibilities of the governing board. To successfully lead their organizations into the future, trustees must understand their role in developing and implementing strategic plans.

This program explores trustees' role in strategic planning. It discusses the importance of developing a strategic plan, strategic planning process steps, and common reasons that strategic plans fail.

Driving Change: Integrating Mission, Values, and Vision into Board Leadership - Trustee Foundations series

Too often, health care organizations develop mission, values, and vision statements, and then do not think about them again until the next strategic planning session. Successful boards know that these statements should be the primary driver for every hospital board discussion and decision.

This program explores the basic components of mission, vision, and values statements—and specific ideas for ensuring a continual focus on these important documents. It discusses ways to use the organization's mission, vision, and values in strategic planning, and provides "big picture" questions to consider as a part of the strategic planning process.

Preventing and Curing Governance Diseases: Practical Prescriptions for Improving Governance Health and Wellness - Trustee Foundations series

Multiple factors, either alone or in combination, have the capacity to dramatically influence and shape the quality of the board's focus, dialogue, and leadership outcomes.

This program explores a variety of governance "diseases" that can put hospital boards in leadership intensive care, including "Dialogue Deficit Disorder," "Knowledgdystrophy," "Successionitis," "Lackofinfluenza," and "Leadershipresbyopia." The symptoms and complications of each governance disease are defined, followed by recommended prescriptions for change.

Supercharging Your Hospital's Governance Substructure: How to Build Effective Committees, Task Forces, and Advisory Councils - Trustee Foundations series

Board committees, task forces, and advisory councils are essential components of effective hospital governance and leadership. They form the "substructure" that enables the governing board to focus on larger issues of policy, strategy, and vision.

This program explores three basic types of substructures and how to improve governance effectiveness by balancing the work of the board with these substructures. It describes the symptoms and causes of failing substructures and how to improve them, and provides six simple steps to supercharge substructure performance.

Creating a Positive Workplace Culture - Trustee Foundations series

Attracting and retaining motivated, dedicated, high-quality employees is a constant challenge—one that will become even more critical as the workforce ages, demand escalates, and competition for workers intensifies. The governing board plays a pivotal leadership role in defining the workplace culture.

This program explores the board's role in resolving workplace conflict, and leadership actions that the board can take to improve the workplace environment, such as developing a code of ethics, ensuring a clear strategic plan, involving employees in organizational decision making, and ensuring that transparency is a high priority. It also discusses board action to address challenges that can be detrimental to employee morale.

Governance Self-Assessment: Building Accountability and Transparency in Governance Practices - Trustee Foundations series

A comprehensive, meaningful governance self-assessment process can improve trustee understanding of the essentials of effective hospital governance, identify group and individual "leadership gaps," and continually fine-tune governance to respond successfully to the unknown challenges of the future. The outcomes of the self-assessment process also create an ideal opportunity for the hospital board to communicate its commitment to accountable governance and leadership with employees and the community.

This program explores the basics of conducting a board self-assessment, including the recommended frequency, common rating areas for the overall board's performance and committee performance, identification of issues and priorities for the future, and assessment of individual trustee performance. It discusses ways to analyze self-assessment results and put the results to work, using the results to build "governance gain" and strengthen communication with employees and the community.

Boardroom Basics

What Every Health Care Trustee Needs to Know.

Boardroom Basics is a resource to educate and inform new and current trustees about fundamental board roles and responsibilities. It provides insight about the fundamentals of a strong board structure, the importance of clear communication and information, and creating a dynamic board culture. This simple, easy-to-read guide can be used as an orientation resource for new board members and as a "refresher" for more seasoned trustees.

This publication is available to non-members for $50. There is a 20% discount for orders of 20 or more. Please call (800) 360-7211 to order.

PolicyWORKS Governance Policy Toolkit

Healthcare Trustees of New York State is pleased to offer a new resource from The Walker Company that will help ensure your board has the policies and procedures of an accountable, effectively governed organization.

The Walker Company's PolicyWORKS™ Governance Policy Toolkit includes sample governance policies and procedures that contain everything you need to develop a comprehensive policy manual for your hospital.

PolicyWORKS™ includes:

• A CD containing an overview of key policy information, including:
  • Why policies and procedures are essential to effective governance;
  • A guide to key components of sound policy documents; and
  • A list of Internal Revenue Service Form 990 policies your board should have, and where the policies are referenced in Form 990.
• Samples of 12 IRS Form 990 policies.
• Samples of 14 additional policies and/or procedures.
• A ready-to-print template for the manual's index tabs.
• Ready-to-print full color artwork for the cover and spine of your manual.
• A hard copy of all materials in a three-ring binder, to assist you in custom-tailoring the PolicyWORKS™ manual to meet your hospital's needs.

AssessmentWORKS Governance Practices Assessment Toolkit

Healthcare Trustees of New York State is pleased to offer a new resource from The Walker Company that will help your board complete an effective self-assessment.

The Walker Company's AssessmentWORKS™ Governance Practices Assessment Toolkit has been designed to give you maximum flexibility to define the leadership process and criteria that are right for your board. Start your self-assessment process by following the Step-by-Step Guide to a Successful Governance Self-Assessment. It easily guides you through how to use the forms and resources included in the toolkit. The toolkit includes:

• Full governance self-assessment tools, including a Governance Self-Assessment Organizer, a selfassessment survey questionnaire template, and sample reports and correspondence.
• Board committees self-assessment tools, including a Committee Self-Assessment Organizer, questionnaire templates, and sample correspondence.
• Peer evaluation tools, including an assessment template, a template for reporting assessment results, and sample correspondence.
• Tools to help you prepare for meaningful governance gain, including instructions and a Microsoft Excel© spreadsheet formatted to prioritize your governance improvement ideas, a sample analysis, and 101 ideas for specific ways to improve governing leadership effectiveness.

Leading Change in Health Care: Building a Viable System for Today and Tomorrow

by Ian Morrison

This collection of short essays address the current health care environment and is organized around overarching themes on how to build viable systems in health care finance and delivery. The book is ideal for trustees and is available for purchase through the American Hospital Association's Health Forum site.

The Excellent Board II - New, Practical Solutions for Health Care Trustees and CEOs

Karen Gardner, Editor

The Excellent Board II is a collection of articles selected from recent issues of Trustee magazine that cover topics vitally important to a board's effectiveness. The book is available for purchase through the American Hospital Association's Health Forum site.

The Heart of Leadership: Inspiration and Practical Guidance for Transforming Your Health Care Organization

By M. Barbara Balik and Jack A. Gilbert

The Heart of Leadership challenges the view that new tools, processes, and knowledge are enough to deliver the highest levels of safety, quality performance, employee engagement, and financial health. The book examines the leadership characteristics of ten transformational leaders from a variety of work environments who have produced better documented, sustainable, positive results than peers in similar circumstances. The book is available for purchase through the American Hospital Association's Health Forum site.

The Expanding Role of the Compensation Committee

By Rian M. Yaffe and Alexander C. Yaffe

This monograph discusses the functions of a Compensation Committee, describes related best practices and provides examples and tools to help tax-exempt hospital boards effectively fulfill these important responsibilities.