Pre-Conference Workshops

WORKSHOP #1: Engaging Governing Boards and Leadership in Embracing Accountable Care Challenges
Lynn Barr, CEO, Caravan Health

Rural hospital leaders are challenged with navigating the shaky bridge from fee-for-service and cost based payment models to value based accountable care models. A key aspect is engaging boards of trustees in support for the transformation journey. In rural communities, board members often wear many hats and are stretched thin, making the prospect of engaging them in the move into accountable care models a significant task. CMS requirements, time-frames, and planning time needed to participate in accountable care payment models make a board education strategy eminently important. This workshop will provide a pathway for rural hospitals leaders to engage with their boards to prepare them to support the formulation and implementation of plans to move their rural facilities into accountable care models. You’ll learn about a board education model that was developed from the experience of convening 23 rural ACOs that include 164 rural hospitals. Participants will gain an understanding of how MACRA impacts rural hospitals and clinics, the requirements for Quality Payment Program (QPP) reporting for hospital and non-hospital-based providers, and how to communicate this effectively to the board. Engaging your board around the basic components of a sound population health model will pave the way to accountable care.

WORKSHOP #2: Creating a Cultural Blueprint to Engage Employees, Clinicians and the Rural Community
Joe Tye, CEO and Head Coach, Values Coach Inc., and Ryan Smith, Chief Executive Officer, Memorial Hospital of Converse County

This workshop offers participants new insights into how to assess the effectiveness of their organization’s statement of values, as well as ideas for optimizing its use to shape culture and recruit staff. You’ll learn tactics for earning employee and clinician engagement in a Culture of Ownership, and for defining the role of the board in monitoring that culture. Explore how one rural hospital transformed a generic and meaningless statement of values into a robust Cultural Blueprint including how the hospital engaged employees, clinicians, board members and the community at large in a dialogue about core values. You’ll see how that blueprint guides hospital leadership through difficult decisions such as balancing compassion and the law when dealing with an employee diverting medications or taking a stand on public policy measures that are best for the organization but at variance with dominant community opinions. Finally, the presenters will offer ideas for assessing the ROI for work on culture, including the impact on employee turnover, organizational productivity, quality and safety, and community reputation.