Chairperson's File
Blog posts from 2024 AHA Board Chair Joanne M. Conroy, M.D., CEO and president of Dartmouth Health, and past chairs.
Redefine. Partner. Integrate. Experiment. Specialize. Many hospitals and care systems are embarking on one or more of these paths to transform health care delivery while providing high-quality, affordable care to patients. At Presbyterian Healthcare Services, based in Albuquerque, N.M., leaders and…
Four generations are working side by side in hospitals and care systems today. Atlantic Health System, a large nonprofit health care system in New Jersey, has created an organizational culture that supports a multigenerational workforce. For example, to support employees age 50 and above—…
In 2005, Guernsey County in rural Ohio had the state's second worst late-stage colon cancer rates for patients. Colorectal cancer is the second leading cause of cancer deaths in the U.S., according to the American Cancer Society. In response, a task force was created that included medical staff and…
Never underestimate the power of data. Hannibal (Mo.) Regional Hospital focused on collecting and analyzing data to prevent pressure ulcers. The 91-bed hospital serves 18,000 town residents but about 90,000 in its entire service area. The hospital created a multidisciplinary pressure ulcer…
Preventing hospital-acquired infections, reducing surgical complications and reducing readmissions: At hospitals, health care systems and state, regional and metropolitan hospital associations across the country, executives, clinicians and staff are leading successful patient safety and quality…
The path to eliminating disparities in health care has a few roadblocks: limited resources and access to capital, competing regulatory issues and challenges, and resistance to change. But eliminating disparities improves quality of care, efficiency and patient satisfaction, and reduces costs.
A “simple” 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—and frequently visiting the ED—and developed the…
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…
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…
Eliminating hospital-acquired infections, preventing patient falls, reducing preventable readmissions, reducing community asthma rates—these 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…