As we near the close of 2021, it’s a time to reflect on past accomplishments and begin to set goals for the new year. This is especially true in Quality as you begin to prepare for board meetings, strategic planning sessions and/or budgets.
This month we are dedicating the Quality Corner to improve ways to present quality information at hospital board meetings. Being able to send a clear message about quality at the board meetings is critical since the board sets the priorities for quality, safety, and performance improvement activities. I recently attend the Nebraska Hospital Association CAHs & RHCs Conference on Quality and one of the sessions was on how to effectively present to the hospital board of directors. The presentation titled “Presenting on Quality to Your Board: Do’s and Don’ts” was given by Kimberly A. Russel, CEO, Russel Advisors. Ms. Russel has over 38 years of healthcare executive experience which includes 25 years as a CEO. During Ms. Russel’s engaging presentation she touched on the vital components of a meaningful and effective quality report, what key components to include in a board report and how to explain health equity quality components for board members.
Below are a few of the takeaways I found valuable from the presentation and wanted to share:
- Define what quality means, consider the IHI definition of Quality
- Select one measure per care center to report on at each board meeting
- Include in the board packet information on patient engagement, harms report (high level), dashboard
- At the board meeting do not repeat the information from the board packet instead only provide brief verbal comments and include 2 to 3 slides at the most
- For dashboards, include simple up arrows, down arrows to allow board members to easily analyze results
- Include “action plan notes” to summarize what steps happened or what activities occurred to implement the change (dashboards)
- Spend the majority of the time educating the board on a quality topic
- Remind board members of the need of confidentiality
I hope you find this information beneficial and will keep this in mind the next time you are preparing for an upcoming board meeting. If you would like to receive a copy of the PowerPoint slides from this presentation, please email me at Becky.Heisinger@sdaho.org.
