Chairperson's File
Blog posts from 2025 AHA Board Chair Tina Freese Decker, president and CEO of Corewell Health, and past chairs.
Ensuring the highest quality for patient care means continuously reviewing processes and outcomes. Those words are straight from the website of Verde Valley Medical Center, a 99-bed, nonprofit, rural hospital in Cottonwood, Ariz. VVMC reviews processes and outcomes to prevent inpatient harm in…
Patients admitted to a hospital for one condition—congestive heart failure, for example—are typically readmitted for something completely different. University of Arkansas Medical Sciences Medical Center, in Little Rock, is working to reduce medication-related readmissions, which have…
April is National Minority Health Month. Launched in April 2001 by the National Minority Health Foundation, National Minority Health Month addresses the needs of African Americans, Asians, Hispanics, Native Americans and other minority populations. To commemorate the occasion, Equity of Care is…
The chair files highlight stories of hospitals and health systems that are implementing innovative practices and streamlined processes to improve the quality of health care for patients in their communities. We encourage you to submit your hospital, health system or association's story to hpoe@aha.…
The Backyard Initiative at Allina Health, based in Minnesota, is truly taking care beyond hospital walls. BYI focuses on seven neighborhoods that surround Allina's Abbott Northwestern Hospital, Phillips Eye Institute, and corporate headquarters and are home to many residents with poor health…
Effective care transitions programs can do more than improve patient care: patients learn to manage their own health and can avoid a hospital readmission. Thomasville (NC) Medical Center, a 146-bed hospital, implemented its TMC to Home program in July 2011 to target at-risk patients with acute MI,…
A commitment to diversity came first. That was followed by specific action projects to increase diversity in management and leadership and increase cultural proficiency in health care. In early 2006, an ad hoc committee at Rush University Medical Center, Chicago, reviewed the organization's work…
Does your hospital huddle? Staff in the medical-surgical unit at Fairbanks (AK) Memorial Hospital is implementing huddles and other strategies to reduce falls among inpatients. Unit staff determined that a huddle called immediately after a patient falls is crucial for learning and helping to…
Today we need leaders who can help address the challenges and maximize the tremendous opportunities for transformation and innovation in the U.S. health care system. AHA's intensive interactive Health Care Transformation Fellowship provides senior health care leaders with the implementation…
From flexible visiting hours to family-centered rounds, hospitals are encouraging patients and families to become involved in their care. A new report from the AHA Committee on Research “Engaging Health Care Users: A Framework for Healthy Individuals and Communities” presents a…