Chairperson's File
Blog posts from 2026 AHA Board Chair Marc Boom, M.D., president and CEO of Houston Methodist, and past chairs.
The path to eliminating disparities in health care has a few roadblocks: limited resources and access to capital, competing regulatory issues and challenges, and resistance to change. But eliminating disparities improves quality of care, efficiency and patient satisfaction, and reduces costs.
A “simple” complex plan is reducing readmissions at Wythe County Community Hospital, a 100-bed facility in Wytheville, Va. Care teams reviewed data to determine which patients kept returning to WCCH within 30 days of discharge—and frequently visiting the ED—and developed the…
If you build a community of care, people will come. It happened when Middlesex Hospital, in Middletown, Conn., began meeting with community partners. The objective: to work collaboratively to improve the hand-off process for heart failure patients being discharged to skilled nursing facilities and…
After more than a decade of war, many U.S. military service members have experienced an unprecedented number of combat deployments. Representing about 25 percent of the U.S. population, service members, veterans and their families face the consequences of war's invisible wounds. This group has…
Eliminating hospital-acquired infections, preventing patient falls, reducing preventable readmissions, reducing community asthma rates—these are just a few of the many improvement efforts that hospital and health care system leaders are tackling. A Hospitals in Pursuit of Excellence guide…
Every October pink appears on everything from ribbons to football helmets and even illuminates the White House to raise awareness about breast cancer. Every day hospitals and health care systems conduct screenings and provide quality care for women (and men) diagnosed with the disease. St. Vincent…
Teamwork between infection control and environmental services professionals at Hunterdon Medical Center in Flemington, NJ, has helped reduce infections at the 178-bed hospital. 'Constant education' is one key, so health care workers understand the importance of thorough cleaning and disinfecting as…
Focusing on strategies to improve quality and achieve health care equity is a growing national priority. Two upcoming Hospitals in Pursuit of Excellence webinars will provide guidance and information to help organizations that are beginning the journey to providing equitable care as well as those…
October 6 – 12 is Mental Health Awareness Week. According to estimates, in the United States each year, one in four people experience a behavioral health disorder, which encompasses both mental illness and substance abuse disorders. In addition, a majority of people with behavioral health…
Patients are becoming empowered. As health care consumers, they are reviewing publicly available data, including quality and satisfaction measures. Hospitals and health care systems need to know their patient populations so they can accommodate individual needs and provide high-quality, patient-…