Health Care Success Story -

Challenge: The board of trustees of a 164-bed county-owned hospital in Kansas needed an independent review of the organization’s senior management. A variety of situations had occurred which had eroded the trust between the board and staff. The hospital had established its own HMO and the board’s attention was focused on a battle with a new for-profit hospital that was trying to come into their community. Employee relations were in turmoil because weeks after opening a newly constructed hospital wing, management eliminated 25 jobs. Its skilled nursing unit had recently failed its inspection for the third time. State inspectors were recommending cutting off Medicare payments for services and fines were mounting. The sophisticated hospital board members were extremely frustrated and embarrassed. The board included the State’s former Secretary of Health, the director of the county’s health department and the department chair of health services administration at a major state University. They needed an independent review the performance of the organization's senior staff and a better understanding of what had actually happened to cause such turmoil.

JCS Solution: The hospital board retained Johnson Consulting Services to assist it in determining what had gone on and to address their approach to governance of the organization. Our work included in-depth interviews with all members of the board and senior management staff to determine what had transpired, as well as review of a wide variety of secondary documentation to isolate the critical tipping points and to determine what needed to be done to resolve the conflict and rebuild trust. We also provided insight into the critical issues relating to governance and defining a more appropriate role for individual members of the hospital board.

Results: We completed a candid assessment of their current governance process and insight into how these processes could be more effectively utilized to address the situation at hand. We provided both sides with a candid presentation outlining the results of our findings and our recommendations for corrective action. The board and management clarified the boundaries of their respective roles and made critical changes in how they worked with each other.

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