Chairperson's File
Blog posts from 2025 AHA Board Chair Tina Freese Decker, president and CEO of Corewell Health, and past chairs.
A 鈥渟imple鈥 complex plan is reducing readmissions at Wythe County Community Hospital, a 100-bed facility in Wytheville, Va. Care teams reviewed data to determine which patients kept returning to WCCH within 30 days of discharge鈥攁nd frequently visiting the ED鈥攁nd developed the鈥
If you build a community of care, people will come. It happened when Middlesex Hospital, in Middletown, Conn., began meeting with community partners. The objective: to work collaboratively to improve the hand-off process for heart failure patients being discharged to skilled nursing facilities and鈥
After more than a decade of war, many U.S. military service members have experienced an unprecedented number of combat deployments. Representing about 25 percent of the U.S. population, service members, veterans and their families face the consequences of war's invisible wounds. This group has鈥
Eliminating hospital-acquired infections, preventing patient falls, reducing preventable readmissions, reducing community asthma rates鈥攖hese are just a few of the many improvement efforts that hospital and health care system leaders are tackling. A Hospitals in Pursuit of Excellence guide鈥
Every October pink appears on everything from ribbons to football helmets and even illuminates the White House to raise awareness about breast cancer. Every day hospitals and health care systems conduct screenings and provide quality care for women (and men) diagnosed with the disease. St. Vincent鈥
Teamwork between infection control and environmental services professionals at Hunterdon Medical Center in Flemington, NJ, has helped reduce infections at the 178-bed hospital. 'Constant education' is one key, so health care workers understand the importance of thorough cleaning and disinfecting as鈥
Focusing on strategies to improve quality and achieve health care equity is a growing national priority. Two upcoming Hospitals in Pursuit of Excellence webinars will provide guidance and information to help organizations that are beginning the journey to providing equitable care as well as those鈥
October 6 鈥 12 is Mental Health Awareness Week. According to estimates, in the United States each year, one in four people experience a behavioral health disorder, which encompasses both mental illness and substance abuse disorders. In addition, a majority of people with behavioral health鈥
Patients are becoming empowered. As health care consumers, they are reviewing publicly available data, including quality and satisfaction measures. Hospitals and health care systems need to know their patient populations so they can accommodate individual needs and provide high-quality, patient-鈥
Learn from the best of the best. The 2013 AHA-McKesson Quest for Quality Prize庐 recipients will share their quality improvement stories during a two-part Hospitals in Pursuit of Excellence webinar series. These hospitals and care systems have committed in a systematic manner to achieving the鈥