Chairperson's File
Blog posts from 2025 AHA Board Chair Tina Freese Decker, president and CEO of Corewell Health, and past chairs.
Hospitals and health systems recognized for excellence in health care equity are sharing their work with the field.
Trustees, senior leaders and quality chairs play a pivotal role as their hospitals and health care systems pursue opportunities to transform care and better serve their patients and communities. The AHA offers many resources for the ongoing work to improve quality and safety.
Take best practices from two industries focused on safety and reliability鈥攏uclear power and aviation鈥攎ix in specialized safety training for all hospital staff, use common-cause and root-cause analyses and enhance with lessons and stories from front-line staff鈥攖hen combine all to鈥
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.