Greg Bentz made a presentation at the American Hospital Association Annual Meeting in Washington D.C. on April 23rd, 2023. The presentation was jointly made by Dr. Jonathan B. Perlin, The President and CEO of the Joint Commission, and Mr. Bentz. The topic was “Revitalize Your Board’s Focus on Quality and Patient Safety.”
Some Health Systems and Hospitals suffered a deterioration in their Patient quality and safety scores during the COVID pandemic. Many Health System Boards have continued to focus on issues created by the pandemic such as shrinking or negative margins, nursing shortages, and worker dissatisfaction. While these issues are important, they have caused Boards to lose their focus on their mission of providing safe and quality care to their communities. This presentation reminded Hospital Trustees of their role as representatives of the communities they serve and, that while margins and workforce are important issues, that Boards cannot forget the importance of working for their patients by being ever-diligent in improving the quality of care the patients receive.
Other presenters during the three day conference included Karl Rove and David Axelrod, Maria Shriver, Senator Mark Warner, Senator Roger Marshall, Senator Maggie Hassan, Dr. Ashish Jah and Admiral James Stavridis. Over 1000 people from across the country attended during the course of the multi-day meeting.