That handsome guy on the right is Mr. Scott Becker, former CEO of  Conemaugh Health System and Chair-Elect of the Board of the 1889 Foundation, both in Johnstown, PA.  He was in the audience during my plenary presentation, “Measuring Quality: Do Metrics Really Bring Transformation?” at The Governance Institute’s (TGI) January Leadership Conference in Naples, FL.

My time at TGI was focused on helping leaders of not-for-profit hospital boards tackle the challenges they face in addressing myriad and bewildering measures focused on the quality and safety of care.  Since not-for-profit hospital boards bear the ultimate fiduciary responsibility for quality and safety, I spent 90 minutes advising hospital board leaders about how to re-focus their energy on their most important responsibility.  I believe that, as a group, we’ve taken our eye off the ball, and have been so concerned about building integrated delivery networks, opening a new ACO and the like, we have regrettably almost forgotten that medical error is the third leading cause of death in our country.  The audience members were very attentive, and I hope they got it!  TGI is the leading voice in the world of healthcare governance, and it’s a great privilege to play a role in their national programs.