Chairperson's File
Blog posts from 2025 AHA Board Chair Tina Freese Decker, president and CEO of Corewell Health, and past chairs.
鈥淥nce a patient believes that you [the provider] understand them, we think the healing begins,鈥 says Wayne Boatwright, vice president, cultural diversity, Meridian Health, Neptune, N.J.
Three Illinois hospitals received recognition for 鈥渄elivering quality with distinction鈥 by the Illinois Hospital Association Institute for Innovations in Care and Quality. Three more hospitals were runners-up, all part of the institute's third annual Quality Excellence Achievement鈥
Engaging patients and families in health care can help hospitals achieve the Triple Aim: better care, better health, lower costs. At Schneck Medical Center, a 93-bed community hospital in Seymour, Ind., engagement efforts include (mostly) unlimited visiting hours, bedside shift-change reports, and鈥
Managing population health, financial planning for value-based care and payment, and leading improvement across the care continuum are among the topics highlighted in the 2014 edition of Hospitals in Pursuit of Excellence: A Compendium of Action Guides. The compendium is a collection of action-鈥
It is estimated that 25 percent of falls by hospital patients are preventable. Saint Alphonsus Regional Medical Center, a 380-bed hospital in Boise, Idaho, launched an initiative to reduce falls by half in one calendar year. Led by the hospital's nursing quality and safety coordinator, the project鈥
A national leader in health care equity, Massachusetts General Hospital in Boston has developed successful initiatives to promote diversity, improve quality, address disparities and achieve equity.
Small tests of change can give hospitals momentum and show early progress in improvement projects. Lakeview Regional Medical Center, a 172-bed hospital in Covington, La., focused on collaborating, improving coordination and conducting small tests of change to reduce its 30-day readmissions rate.
Improving patient safety, leading multiple improvement efforts and moving to value-based care: The AHA's Hospitals in Pursuit of Excellence initiative supports hospitals' and health care systems' efforts in these areas with resources created to accelerate performance and quality improvement and鈥
Whether cheering for soccer, tennis, baseball, softball or another sport, fans no doubt have witnessed the robust and disciplined preparation of star athletes in their field. Using a disciplined and robust financial planning process can guide hospitals and care systems navigating the challenging鈥
Here's the promising news: About 95 percent of hospitals and health care systems collect data on patients' race, ethnicity and primary language. The not-so-good news is only 22 percent of hospitals and systems are using that data to identify disparities in treatment or outcomes between racial or鈥