Ten New Year’s Resolutions for Boards

A former health system board chair from New York wrote this to me on his holiday card: “Best wishes for 2011: Looks like this will be the year of governance.” He may be right. The past year has brought the most sweeping change in the healthcare payment system since the enactment of Medicare and Medicaid, [...]

Governing Board’s Role in Mergers and Alliances: New Issue of Great Boards

Healthcare reform is expected to drive a new round of mergers, acquisitions, and strategic alliances among hospitals and other providers. As a white paper last summer from The Governance Institute noted, “Since the recent passage of healthcare reform, nonprofits have demonstrated much more interest in achieving scale. Also, a number of free-standing hospitals and small [...]

Hospitals Taking Initiative to Be Accountable for Care

If health care reform fails, it won’t be for lack of trying by many of the nation’s leading health systems and their physician partners.  Although many hospitals are still trying to determine what the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act means for them, those on the leading edge are forging ahead. One example: Fairview Health [...]