Mass. Hospitals Adopt Groundbreaking Education Initiative for Trustees

The Mass. Hospital Association’s board of trustees has unanimously endorsed a new, innovative education curriculum aimed at providing hospital trustees with the tools necessary to more effectively monitor and advance quality improvement efforts. The program, developed in conjunction with the American Hospital Assoc. with support from Blue Cross Blue Shield of Massachusetts (BCBSMA) will be offered to every hospital, health system, and medical center across the state and throughout New England.

“Focus on quality-improvement efforts has always been a big part of everyday life for hospital staffs and hospital executives,” said Lynn Nicholas, FACHE, president & CEO of the MHA. “To successfully bring quality and safety improvements to the next level, we need to bring education and training programs to the next level — our hospital trustees. The modern-day trustee is focused on much more than just the bottom line, and this program gives them the tools needed to be effective leaders in this arena.”

The curriculum focuses education efforts on six key areas or critical ‘levers’ available to hospital trustees to improve quality: mission, culture, performance, leadership, strategy, and resource allocation. Those providers whose boards complete the course may become eligible for certain payment incentives as part of BCBSMA’s current pay-for-performance programs.

“Hospitals have historically maintained board-level accountability for our patient care quality and safety,” said Robert Norton, chairman of the MHA and president and CEO of North Shore Medical Center, one of the five hospitals which piloted the education curriculum. “This training, however, provides hospital trustees with a broader and more detailed perspective on their role. It empowers trustees with knowledge, giving them greater confidence to set their own quality and safety agenda.”

Cleve Killingsworth, BCBSMA’s chairman and chief executive officer, agreed.

“Only through these types of partnerships that bring together insurers, providers, and other stakeholders can we achieve the very highest levels of quality,” he said. “We have a special responsibility — and opportunity — to make sure that our health care is as safe and effective as possible and that we work together to eliminate overuse, under use, and misuse of health care services.”

Starting in October 2007, a pilot or ‘roll out’ was held at five Massachusetts hospitals in order to gain feedback and input from hospital trustees. Of the 91 trustees that participated in the pilot program, a stunning 98{06cf2b9696b159f874511d23dbc893eb1ac83014175ed30550cfff22781411e5} indicated they would recommend this program to other hospital boards. The pilot participants were: Emerson Hospital in Concord; HealthAlliance Hospital, Leominster/ Fitchburg; New England Baptist Hospital, Boston; North Shore Medical Center, Salem; North Adams Regional Hospital, North Adams; and Atrius Health, Newton.

“This curriculum will change the way trustees think about quality, their ability to effect change and their responsibility to leadership when it comes to hospital safety,” said John Lowe, chairman of the Board of Directors at Emerson Hospital. “Simply put, this program can help save lives.”

Mary Fuqua, former member of the Board of Trustees at Northern Berkshire Healthcare, said she would recommend the program be a priority effort for all hospitals. “This curriculum challenges our assumptions that we trustees know too little about quality to govern it, provides new perspective, and empowers trustees to take on an active role in quality.”

The six-hour program is available to all hospitals effective immediately. The education session is facilitated with each hospital’s board and executive team by a nationally recognized leader in trustee education. The program is tailor-made to fit the specific needs of individual hospitals and includes a resource guide and self-assessment tool for trustees.

The trustee quality education forum is the latest in a series of high level commitments to improving quality made by Massachusetts hospitals during the course of the past year. Other highlights, which have gained national attention include the first-ever public posting of hospital-specific nursing sensitive measures in the areas of falls, falls with injury and pressure ulcers, (available at www.patientsfirstma.org) and the adoption of a practice to not charge for serious adverse events.

“This proactive approach will not only improve patient outcomes, but will reduce costs in the long run,” said Helen Strieder, member of the MHA Board of Trustees and former New England Baptist Hospital Board Chair. “Initiatives like this are what put Massachusetts well ahead of the national curve in terms of quality and patient safety.”