Governance + Board Services
Harness the Deep Knowledge and Experience of Our Governance Experts
Enhance Your Board's Effectiveness and Foster a More Resilient, Successful Organization
Successfully navigating healthcare board governance is undoubtedly complex, but at Via Healthcare Consulting, we speak this language fluently and have lived in this world for decades. We understand the stakes are high when working for a community non-profit or elected district board. And, we know that legislative, regulatory, and public scrutiny are only increasing. With over 130 years of collective experience working directly with healthcare boards and CEOs, our governance and board services consultants possess a firsthand understanding of the field. We have seen it all and can pinpoint the shortcomings that expose organizations to failure. Our tailored governance solutions can address your board’s specific development, education, or team effectiveness needs. We excel in identifying areas of weakness and defining actionable steps for improvement. From board governance consulting to governance structural redesign to board orientation, self-assessments, and retreats, we go beyond the basics.
Our comprehensive approach ensures your board is well-prepared to overcome challenges, propelling your organization to even higher levels of performance.
How Our Governance and Board Services Help CEOs
Navigating Board Complexity
ViaHCC understands the intricate challenges CEOs face in board governance. Our tailored approach will help facilitate positive impact by:
- Reducing the risk that a board’s ill‐advised actions or direction will derail your organization.
- Improving communication and understanding between the executives and the board.
- Ensuring the board is educated and oriented to its proper role and responsibilities.
- Orienting a board’s focus toward the critical strategic issues facing the organization.
- Increasing alignment between the board, medical staff, and executive team.
- Reducing distractions created by a board that’s well‐intentioned but lacking appropriate focus.
- Taking the challenging, political work of managing a board off your plate so you can focus on accomplishing organizational goals.
If the weight of managing your board has you feeling stuck or overwhelmed, ViaHCC is here to guide you through it. Our expert consultants specialize in untangling the complexities, ensuring your board stays in its lane and serves the organizational mission. Let’s transform the challenges into opportunities for impactful governance. Reach out today, and let’s navigate the governance journey together.
How Our Governance and Board Services Help Board Members
Fostering Governance Excellence
ViaHCC streamlines the journey for board members navigating the intricate landscape of governance. Our focused services will help:
- Take the mystery out of how to be an effective board member.
- Provide relevant, interesting education on the topics you need to know in order to govern in today’s healthcare field.
- Improve communication and understanding between the executives and the board.
- Increase alignment between the board, medical staff, and executive team.
- Facilitate and design customized retreats that are impactful and engaging.
- Help you better serve the organization’s mission through your service on the board.
Feeling lost in the complexities of board membership? Via Healthcare Consulting has your back. Our governance and board services enhance communication, foster alignment with the executive team and medical staff, and design impactful retreats to engage and inspire. Elevate your service on the board and contribute meaningfully to your organization’s mission. Let’s unravel the mysteries together— let’s have a clarity call today.
Board Self-Assessment
Enhancing Governance Excellence
How Does Board Self Evaluation Support Healthy Board Governance?
A governing board oversees its organization’s performance, but who oversees the board’s performance? An annual self-assessment survey and process for the board promotes continuous improvement and development that will build on the strengths and identify areas of opportunity to increase the effectiveness of your board. Once those opportunities have been properly identified from the assessment, Via develops possible solutions, such as committee restructuring, an education plan, or board retreat, to deepen your board’s knowledge and improve governance practices that collectively will result in better governance.
Conduct a Governance Assessment to Diagnose and Address Your Board Challenges
What is our 7-step process to chart a course to improved healthcare governance?
While each project is customized to address your board’s specific governance challenges, in general our projects follow a 7-step process designed to provide us with an in-depth understanding of your board’s current state, identify opportunities for improvement, and produce sustainable solutions.
After an initial fact-finding call, ViaHCC conducts a comprehensive review of background material to ensure a thorough grounding in your board’s governance structures and functioning. These include various foundational documents, such as articles of incorporation and bylaws, current governance structure descriptions, sample meeting agendas and minutes, and committee structure.
To ensure those impacted by any potential change are involved in the process, we make sure that key stakeholders are involved throughout the engagement to oversee the work and assess progress. These stakeholders most often include the CEO, board members, and a few executive leaders who work with the board.
By engaging key stakeholders and board members, along with a thorough background review, Via experts pinpoint issues hindering optimal board performance. Common challenges include confusion between the roles of governance and management, inadequate committee structure, vague job descriptions, ineffective meeting agendas, an unhealthy board culture, and misalignment between executive and board leadership.
Once the recommended corrective actions have been approved by key stakeholders, Via experts develop an action plan consisting of three to five goals for improvement and key steps for achieving success. The plan will also include metrics for measuring progress and the parties responsible for completing the action steps.
Via presents our findings during a session with the key stakeholders and board members. During this session, we will facilitate an open discussion regarding the gap between the board’s current situation and desired practices. Via then works with your board on incorporating effective processes for implementing the action plan such as setting up a committee for overseeing the work and setting aside time on agendas to review progress.
We know our work often does not end once the action plan goes live. Most often, the executives we work with understand the need for ongoing support to enhance the hard work of the board in its improvement efforts. This support might include formal board member orientation on proper roles and responsibilities, education on meeting effectiveness and facilitation, or development of an education plan that will keep your board on point with industry trends, best practices, and other information on what members need to know to govern more effectively.
Who Benefits From ViaHCC’s Board Services?
Governance work is not for the faint of heart. It is time consuming and complex. ViaHCC’s experts bring decades of experience working with boards, which means we know how to carefully navigate this sensitive and important work, streamlining the path to enhanced governance performance.
We serve a national market of nonprofit, governmental, district, tribal, and for-profit organizations including:
- Hospitals + Health Systems
- Medical Groups + Physician Practices
- State Hospital Associations
- Tribal Health Organizations
- Foundations
- Industry Conferences
- Other Healthcare-related Associations and Organizations
How to Build Board Composition that Enables High Performance
It is a well-known fact that individual board members have no individual authority; it’s only when working collectively that they can act. However, the composition of individuals who serve on a board matters tremendously. Effective governance requires assembling a board membership of people who bring diverse expertise and experience, as well as varied professional and personal backgrounds. A community board should also ensure its membership accurately reflects the diversity of the community it serves.
ViaHCC’s board services offer expertise in how to identify, recruit, onboard, and retain a diverse, well-qualified board. We can also advise you on how to establish best-practice board membership structures such as terms of service, term limits, and how to effectively include medical staff as board members. What is the role of the CEO on the board, who should be a voting board member, and who should be ex-officio? We have the answers you need to create an optimum governing board membership and composition.
Medical Group Governance: Building Strong Provider Networks
How Do Health Systems Meaningfully Engage Their Physicians in Governance?
More and more health systems are weaving strong, structured medical group governance into the top tier of their system and regional governance models. By building in mechanisms for provider involvement in governance, progressive health systems unify and elevate the voice of practicing physicians and secure clinician input and direction on major initiatives. Setting up or redesigning governance structures for your health system’s employed medical groups is not an insignificant undertaking.
ViaHCC board service experts have done this work with health systems and medical groups around the country so we understand the processes, practices, and people skills necessary to build an effective medical group governance structure composed of executives, medical leadership, and practicing clinicians. You have the opportunity to achieve a better understanding of what is important to your physicians, and physicians have the opportunity to gain a better understanding of your business and market complexities. Overall, effective medical group governance structures can be a “secret sauce” for greater physician alignment, clinician buy-in, provider retention, and better strategic decision-making.
Ready to Elevate Your Board's Effectiveness?
Discover Tailored Solutions With Via Healthcare Consulting
At Via Healthcare Consulting, our experts delve deep into your organization’s governance needs to establish strategies that provide customized solutions to transform your healthcare governance performance. Wondering what more we can do for you? Submit a discovery call form today to discuss your specific circumstances and identify solutions to enhance every facet of your board’s performance.
Board and Committee Chair Coaching
Unleash the full potential of your board’s leadership with real-world guidance and personalized coaching sessions.
Board Committee Structure
Ensure that your board’s committee structure is up-to-date and right-sized to accomplish the work of your board. We also advise on how to optimize your committee-board dynamics for maximum efficiency and effectiveness.
Board Education Plan
The proper care and feeding of any board requires continuous and never-ending education. Foster the development of a learning culture and growth mindset within your board through our meticulously crafted education plans.
New Board Member Orientation
Seamlessly integrate new members into your board with our comprehensive and customized orientation programs.
Board Self-Assessment
Well-managed board self-assessment can result in a self-aware board willing to transform for the better. Evaluate your board’s strengths and areas for improvement, ensuring self-reflection and positive change. Discover our process.
District and Public Hospital Governance Effectiveness
We specialize in working with elected, public district hospital boards. Our deep experience and proven success with these unique boards will enable you to navigate the complexities of district and public hospital governance with confidence and expertise.
Governance + Board Consulting
Our experts bring a collective 130 years of experience in working with boards so there’s little we haven’t seen. If your board is struggling, we can help. Talk to us today so we can design a solution that really works.
Governance Redesign
Health systems across the country find their leadership effectiveness hindered by too many layers of boards, asymmetrical governance and board authority, and outdated board and committee practices. Our experts have been leading governance redesign projects for over 20 years and we specialize in utilizing a nimble, change-oriented approach that delivers results.
Board Governance Review and Assessment
Our board governance review and assessment approach is fact-based and expert-led. Get a detailed analysis and diagnosis of your board’s governance effectiveness, pinpointing opportunities for enhancement. See our 7-step process.
Hospital-Physician Alignment
Foster strong partnerships between the hospital and its physicians, ensuring strategic and effective collaboration.
Meeting Effectiveness and Facilitation
Because a board’s authority can only be deployed when it is meeting, meetings are a board’s primary currency. Harness the power of our proven techniques for engaging and productive meetings.
Retreat Facilitation
We build best-in-class board retreats that transform leadership groups and governance effectiveness. Elevate your board gatherings and strategy retreats with our expert speaking and facilitation, guiding your leadership team toward innovative solutions. Let’s have a discussion about your retreat opportunity.
Outsourced Board Management
Streamline your board operations and focus on what matters while we handle your board management needs. Learn more about our process.
Ready to revolutionize your healthcare leadership journey? Take the first step towards transformative governance. Contact Via Healthcare Consulting now!
Industry Insights
