The board’s role in ensuring quality of care

Description

Abstract: Many factors have converged recently that place quality of care and patient safety at the top of the agenda for hospital governing boards. For example, the health care industry is dealing with the patient safety movement, pay-for-performance plans and stricter government regulations. But what should a board’s role be? The Institute for Healthcare Improvement has created more detailed recommendations for the minimum quality-related activities of governing boards of health care organizations. A sidebar to this article discusses fiduciary duty and quality of care.