Institute for Healthcare Improvement: From the Top: The Role of the Board in Quality and Safety

Program Overview

Does your board of directors discuss finances in more detail than issues of quality and safety?
Could your board send a stronger signal to the organization that it is really serious about achieving quality and safety aims?
Is your board overwhelmed by quality data and unable to determine what to do with it?
How can your board more effectively engage with physicians in your quality and safety agenda?
How will your board handle a sentinel event?

To achieve system-level performance improvement, hospitals and systems must have capable, committed leadership in both the executive office and the board room.

Meaningful and sustainable quality improvement cannot occur in any organization without the full support and engagement of the organization’s trustees. Yet, most boards are not comfortable taking responsibility for quality of care. Even those that are focused on quality need practical guidance in how to lead their organization’s quality agenda.

To help address this need, IHI is pleased to offer From the Top: The Role of the Board in Quality and Safety. Led by national experts in governance and quality, this program will improve the capability of your organization’s board to oversee quality and safety endeavors. Participants will be equipped with the practical tools and skills to take responsibility for the quality performance of the organization.

This program is ideal for forward-thinking organizations that already have quality as a prominent focal point. Ideal participants will have had some initial success building the “will” for change within their system and are now ready for the most effective tools to implement the quality and safety agenda.

What You'll Learn

Special Opportunity for Select Southern California Hospitals

The program will teach practical tools for leading quality and patient safety endeavors in your organization.

Participants will learn how to:

Renew and sustain their board’s engagement and commitment to quality and safety
Improve their board’s ability to oversee quality and safety
Govern participation in the 5 Million Lives Campaign
Effectively integrate quality into the routine board agenda

Who Should Attend

Leaders — formal and informal — who are responsible for driving quality and patient safety endeavors, including:

Board Chair and Vice Chair
Chair of Board Quality Committee
Quality Committee members
Chief Executive Officer
Any board member interested in quality improvement
Chief Medical Officer
Chief Nursing Officer
Chief Operating Officer

Continued Support

After the program, participants are welcome to participate in conference calls with fellow participants and faculty. The calls will be strategically scheduled three, four, and five months after the program, allowing time for participants to gain experience with the tools and to participate in a board meeting at their organization.

The conference calls are a benefit for program participants, but are not mandatory. They provide an excellent opportunity to share experiences and to get additional support from faculty.

This offering of From the Top: The Role of the Board in Quality and Safety is supported in part by a grant from UniHealth Foundation.

UniHealth Foundation is a nonprofit philanthropic organization whose mission is to support and facilitate activities that significantly improve the health and well being of individuals and communities within its service area.

To encourage participation, UniHealth Foundation will cover partial tuition for employees (CEOs, chief medical officers, chief nursing officers, chief operating officers, quality committee members) or governing board members of:

Nonprofit hospitals serving residents of Los Angeles and Orange Counties; or
Agencies of the State of California, the County of Los Angeles, the County of Orange, or any city within the County of Los Angeles or the County of Orange, that operate hospitals.

Participants or their organizations will be responsible for covering the remaining $1,000 of the enrollment fee. If you have any questions about your enrollment, please contact IHI Customer Service at info@ihi.org or (617) 301-4800.

Please note travel and hotel expenses are not covered by funding from UniHealth Foundation; participants are responsible for these costs.

New Areas of Focus

The serious economic environment is forcing urgent questions and concerns for governance and leadership, and we will be addressing them head on during this program. These questions include:

Can we link the quality, safety, satisfaction, and cost issues into a common strategic and operating plan? If so, where and how do we start?
How can I have the largest impact on improving both financial and quality performance? Are there organizations that have really done it? What did they do? How long does it take?
We need to cut budgets significantly now. We know, as trustees and leaders, that we must continue to keep our eyes on quality and satisfaction to prevent untoward outcomes? How do we do it?

We have also evolved our material to support not just board members, but executive and clinical leaders as well.