Pressures are mounting on not-for-profit hospitals to demonstrate that they deserve tax-exempt status. In our lead story, Great Boards' editor Elaine Zablocki examines community benefit: how to define and measure it, how to inform your community of your hospitals' good works, and most important -- what boards need to ask about their hospitals' community benefit activities. Don't take tax exemption for granted -- read the Fall 2006 issue of Great Boards at www.GreatBoards.org and learn what you can do.
In addition, we've posted links to community benefit guidelines, hospital association web sites, and hospitals' reports to their communities on the Great Boards website. Go to http://www.greatboards.org/resources/cbr.asp.
The Fall issue also includes Barry Bader's advice for one of the board's most important responsibilities, choosing and preparing the next board chairperson.
We're hearing lots of questions lately about the board's oversight of executive compensation. One in particular is causing some controversy: Should the full board know and approve the salaries of top executives, or may it delegate this responsibility to a committee? In an article for The Governance Institute, Barry Bader, Ed Kazemek, and Roger Witalis offer some straightforward advice. Find a copy under "What's New" at www.GreatBoards.org.
You might also check out a new seminar on "Executive Compensation Strategies for Nonprofit Hospitals, Health Systems and Health Plans," sponsored by Atlantic Information Systems. Faculty include Douglas Mancino, Partner, McDermott Will & Emery LLP, Los Angeles, and Jim Rohan, Vice President and Managing Director, Sullivan, Cotter and Associates, Inc. Call 800-521-4323 or go to http://www.aishealth.com/Products/w026_1206.html. Mention Great Boards by phone and receive a 10% discount. (Great Boards has no financial interest in this program.)
Another common question we get is how to delineate meaningful roles for hospital boards that are part of health systems. Bill Murray, CEO of Sisters of Charity of Leavenworth Health System, has published a great article in Health Progress magazine on how SCLHS blends system and local governance. He writes: "In this model, we have preserved elements of the unique cultures of our eight geographically dispersed hospitals and the autonomy they enjoyed in what was essentially a holding company--a decentralized organization. At the same time, cognizant of the need for increasing standardization and centralization, we have moved from holding-company status toward a more centralized operating-company model that emphasizes our growing interdependence. In effect, we have blended critical elements of both holding company and operating company models to position SCLHS for the future." You can find a link to the article on the Great Boards website at http://www.greatboards.org/resources/.
CHANGING YOUR E-MAIL ADDRESS. To change your e-mail address on our subscriber list, follow the simple instructions at the end of this message. To keep the Great Boards newsletter free, we ask subscribers to update their own records right on line.
TELL A FRIEND. If you find the Great Boards newsletter and our other governance resources helpful, tell a friend or colleague. Just forward this message to them and they can sign-up free on our website: http://www.greatboards.org/newsletter/subscribe.asp
FEEDBACK. Have a question or topic you'd like us to address? Interested in retreat or consulting services for your board? Visit www.GreatBoards.org and send a message from the Contact page or send an e-mail to bbader@GreatBoards.org
Barry S. Bader, Bader & Associates
12225 Seline Way, Potomac MD 20854, 301-340-0903
www.GreatBoards.org *** bbader@GreatBoards.org