Chairperson's File

2025 AHA Board Chair Tina Freese Decker headshot.

Blog posts from 2025 AHA Board Chair Tina Freese Decker, president and CEO of Corewell Health, and past chairs.

A collaborative network of hospitals and community organizations is improving behavioral health care in Connecticut. Norwalk Hospital partnered with community stakeholders to establish the Greater Norwalk Community Care Team, focusing on delivering enhanced care to individuals with complex medical…
At hospitals, health care systems and state, regional and metropolitan hospital associations across the country, executives, clinicians and staff are leading initiatives to achieve the Triple Aim: improving the patient experience of care (including quality and satisfaction), improving the health of…
Every day, hospitals are successfully meeting challenges and providing quality care in their communities. The patient population at Manchester (Ky.) Memorial Hospital is largely illiterate. Though the 63-bed community hospital ensures that all materials sent home with patients are written at a…
Focusing on value-based payment structures has helped Mount Auburn Hospital design care delivery to meet patient and community needs. Located in Cambridge, Mass., Mount Auburn is the 220-bed regional teaching hospital for Harvard Medical School, serving the Boston and Cambridge metropolitan area.…
Sanpete Valley Hospital, a critical access hospital in Mount Pleasant, Utah, is leading behavioral health outreach efforts in rural Sanpete County. In 2014, the 18-bed hospital helped launch the Sanpete Behavioral Community Health Network. About 15 different organizations are involved with the…
To address disparities in health care outcomes, Main Line Health is proactively addressing socioeconomic barriers. Led by the chief academic officer, interdisciplinary teams at Main Line Health—a comprehensive health system located in the western suburbs of Philadelphia—have conducted…
The Chairman's File columns provide just a glimpse of the excellent work that our nation's hospitals and health systems are doing. In 2015, it's been my privilege to serve as AHA board chair and share these inspiring stories about improving all dimensions of care. System transformation requires…
Mission accomplished, but the work continues. At Our Lady of Lourdes Regional Medical Center in Lafayette, La., a Lean Six Sigma workgroup set a goal to reduce central line-associated bloodstream infections by 20% in 2014. A multidisciplinary team of physicians and staff from across the medical…
More and more hospitals and health systems are leading community collaborations to create positive, healthy experiences for young people. In La Crosse, Wisc., Gundersen Health System has been collaborating with the YMCA Community Teen Center for seven years. This safe drop-in center—free of…
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