Hospital Governance Culture

Governance and leadership in successful nonprofit hospitals are identified by volunteer board members and professional executives effectively [Page 675]working together and demonstrating an understanding of the potential power of collaborative structures, along with the resulting expanded leadership resources when the board and executives lead together. In a nonprofit hospital, governance relates to consistent management, cohesive policies, and clear processes for making decisions that will impact patients, organizational performance, and the greater community. Culture is shaped by assumptions, beliefs, and values that need to be understood by all within the organization—management, physicians, workforce, and board. This means that the ability of key stakeholders, professional and volunteer, to handle the business of and improve the health needs of the community is one measure of the hospital's culture ...