Chairperson's File
Blog posts from 2025 AHA Board Chair Tina Freese Decker, president and CEO of Corewell Health, and past chairs.
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
At North Shore-LIJ Health System, teamwork is everywhere. This New York health system uses TeamSTEPPS鈥擳eam Strategies and Tools to Enhance Performance and Patient Safety鈥攁n evidence-based program developed by the Department of Defense and Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality.鈥
Zero is an important number at Broward Health North. The 409-bed community hospital in Deerfield Beach, Fla., is 鈥渃hasing zero.鈥 That's zero for 0 infections and 0 falls to keep patients safe.
A summer internship program growing in Brooklyn is introducing minority high school students to community health and issues of health care equity. The Health Disparities Summer Internship Program is part of the Brooklyn Health Disparities Center (BHDC), a partnership between SUNY Downstate Medical鈥
The nation's health care system is undergoing dramatic change as the country shifts to a value-based business model. The pace of the transition varies by market, but hospitals, care systems and other providers must be proactive. The Hospitals in Pursuit of Excellence guide 鈥淰alue-based鈥
In July 2013, the AHA released another collection of action-oriented resources that can help hospitals and health care systems design and implement strategies to deliver care that is safe, timely, effective, efficient, equitable and patient-centered. Hospitals in Pursuit of Excellence: A Compendium鈥
It is both 鈥渁 sprint and a marathon.鈥 That's how a team at St. Joseph Mercy Hospital in Ann Arbor, Mich., described reducing catheter-associated urinary tract infections. Along with SJMH, many hospitals and care systems are part of the sprint-marathon and using the Comprehensive Unit-鈥
Only a small percentage of patients develop a health care-associated infection after surgery, and it is estimated that about half of such infections are preventable. West Valley Medical Center, a 150-bed community hospital in Caldwell, Idaho, participates in STOP SSIs鈥擲tudy to Optimally鈥