Center Voices
It’s More Show Than Tell for New Board Members
By Paul Dell Uomo and Sid Carter
The first board meeting can be intimidating for new trustees as they sift through what might seem like a mountain of unfamiliar information. To alleviate their concerns and to assist them, Jupiter Medical Center (JMC) in Jupiter, Fla., began a mentoring program more than eight years ago. The program is designed to educate new trustees about how the hospital operates. It also serves as one of several methods the organization uses to provide pertinent information to new board members, enabling them to participate in board discussions more confidently and make more informed decisions.
Because board members have diverse backgrounds, it’s important that those who have no experience in health care immerse themselves in the field so they’ll be prepared to ask the CEO and management team the tough questions that are the hallmark of good governance. JMC’s mentorship program, which pairs new trustees with veteran members, has proven to be effective in preparing “freshmen” trustees for board service during their first year. Each mentorship team is unique. The most successful ones put the most effort into the process, meeting frequently to ensure that all of the new board member’s questions get answered. For example, new trustees usually want to know about hospital projects currently underway and how they are funded.
JMC is in the midst of a major, multiyear growth plan. Consequently, our mentoring program is more important than ever because the organization needs the board to oversee the plan’s progress aggressively. The board has also experienced recent changes in its own structure. It recruited five new members, and over seven years, downsized from 20 to 15 members. Additionally, JMC recently transitioned to self-management, ending a relationship with the hospital management firm that had been in place for several years.
Given these changes, it’s very important that JMC’s board orientation process clearly defines board responsibilities for setting policy, overseeing operations and fund raising, as well as supporting the CEO and executive team to manage the hospital effectively.
JMC’s mentorship program lasts about a year, which we have found is approximately how long it takes for new trustees to become comfortable in their role. Without a mentoring program, it can take as long as two years for trustees to get up to speed. But educating new board members should be an ongoing experience and does not have to end with their orientation or mentorship.
As part of orientation and mentoring, JMC requires that new board members attend off-site, health care-specific conferences to learn about health policy, government regulations and advances in patient care. JMC’s program also includes on-site tours to ensure trustees understand the organization’s latest projects. It is especially important for board members to observe issues firsthand.
For example, JMC is in the middle of a master facility planning project to build a new, 100-room patient tower. This project will span five years and cost hundreds of millions of dollars. New board members will visit the project site and hear presentations from the CEO and other executives as they tour the facility. In this way, trustees will better understand new projects as well as how to help obtain project funding.
Tours also help JMC tell its story. For example, a facility tour helps trustees see that the hospital has 200 patients but only 156 beds, that the space in the cardiopulmonary department is running at a 2,012-square-foot deficit, and that two additional diagnostic rooms are needed. Showing, rather than simply telling, trustees about the medical center’s capacity issues helps new board members appreciate the obstacles facing JMC. This approach also makes the need for funding more compelling. JMC wants its board members to have accurate information to make sound decisions on both capital expenditures and needed services. Our orientation and mentoring program has helped us achieve this goal.
Paul Dell Uomo, FACHE, is CEO and Sid Carter is board chair of Jupiter (Fla.) Medical Center. Contact Dell Uomo at pauld@jupitermed .com. Contact Carter at sidflo456@aol.com.
This article 1st appeared in the October 2007 issue of Trustee Magazine.
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