Keeping Quality Healthcare in
Hometowns Across the Country

Community-based hospitals put the “care” in healthcare, and meaningful hospital-Board partnerships based on trust and mutual goals drive this mission. Board members make important decisions to serve the community , and help develop strategies to ensure the hospital’s long-term sustainability.

Here are some best practice tips for positive, productive Board-CEO relationships.

Develop a Trustee recruitment and retention process. Recruiting and retaining Trustees is too important to be left up to chance. In fact, “retention” begins in the recruitment phase and never ends. Initial orientation for new Board members should...

The Situation

Yoakum Community Hospital serves as a model of positive CEO-board relations, but establishing this level of board engagement did not happen overnight. CEO Karen Barber has led the 25-bed critical access hospital in rural Texas to a status worthy of national recognition, with strategic direction from an engaged, effective board of trustees. Barber says she feels “fortunate” to be backed by a high-performing board, but it was her own efforts along with the trustees’ that put all the elements in place for the exemplary board Yoakum has today.

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