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Over 600 hospital trustees in Nebraska share the responsibility for providing governance to their local hospitals. By bringing individual trustees together into one network, they have an investment in their own education and advocacy, which benefits all hospitals in the state. Members of the network include all hospital trustees and CEOs in Nebraska. The network steering committee consists of delegates from each hospital.
Hospital trustees should have a knowledgeable understanding of the trends shaping health care. Many trustees have dealt with mergers and integration, re-engineering, and total quality improvement in their full-time positions in industries, such as banking, manufacturing, commerce and agriculture.
Unfortunately, many assume that new health care trustees automatically know everything there is to know about issues such as managed care, medical mistakes, graduate medical education, integrated delivery systems and Medicare reimbursement. Such expectations are far from realistic. As health care continues to change at ever-increasing speed, even the most seasoned trustees are pressed to keep up-to-date. Yet many trustees, both experienced and new, refrain from asking basic questions. Monitoring health care advancements and understanding health care issues is vital to effectively leading hospitals into the future. The Nebraska Hospital Trustee Network helps trustees with these objectives through active communication and educational programs.
Hospital trustees are potentially powerful advocates for their communities and for hospitals nationwide. Trustee voices need to be heard. Trustees are unpaid, yet highly informed, representatives of their hospitals. As such, they can often be more effective advocates than hospital staff members.
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Hospital
Trustee Education Certification Program
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 The NHA Research and Educational
Foundation (NHAREF) has developed this special voluntary trustee certification
designed to make a good board member great, and a committed board member an
exceptional asset. This certification is a process of verifying an individual
trustee’s initiatives to improve personal health care knowledge, leadership
effectiveness and compliance with a variety of governance best practices.
Certification is a viable way of assuring various stakeholders such as community
members, lawmakers, regulators, physicians, employees and other businesses that
Nebraska’s hospitals hold themselves to high standards and are accountable for
their governing performance. Certification demonstrates that Nebraska hospitals:
• Understand and embrace the need
for governance accountability.
• Govern according to a standard
of excellence.
• Are willing to formally certify
their adherence to governance best practices.
• Are committed to care
management and coordination of resources.
• Embrace community
accountability and transparency.
• Structure their community
benefit and outreach programs to meet identified community needs.
• Utilize data from the NHIS
(Nebraska Health Information System) to identify and address
areas of need
especially for the uninsured and underinsured.
• Utilize performance data to
identify opportunities for improvement and to monitor progress to improve
quality and safety.
• Integrate local health efforts
with state programs.
This certification
process has been designed for hospital trustees as part of a larger effort to
hold Nebraska hospitals to a higher standard of accountability. By its use,
participating hospitals are demonstrating a commitment to improving performance
of their boards, encouraging trustees to pursue ongoing education and educating
trustees about their responsibility in serving their community. It also provides
trustees with an opportunity to move beyond the basics of governance to a
forward thinking, strategic understanding of the health care environment and how
to move their hospital’s mission and vision to a new level.
Click here to download the
trustee certification materials.
Contact Jon Borton, vice
president, educational services, at (402) 742-8147 or
jborton@nhanet.org for more information.
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Western
Regional Trustee Symposium
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Arizona ∙ Colorado ∙ Idaho ∙ Montana ∙ Nebraska ∙ Nevada ∙ New Mexico ∙ Utah ∙ Wyoming
For fifteen years, the Western Regional Trustee Symposium, determined to help educate about the critical issues that are facing health care today, has endeavored to present educational sessions to hospital trustees, administrators, and medical staff.
Sponsored by nine state hospital associations and the American Hospital Association, this outstanding meeting provides tremendous educational sessions. Whether you are a new trustee or a seasoned one, the Western Regional Trustee Symposium will assist you in meeting the many challenges facing the world of health care today.
For more information, visit the Western Regional Trustee Symposium Web Site http://www.trusteesymposium.org/
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