Sandra Bennett Bruce President and CEO
Saint Alphonsus Regional Medical Center
Boise, Idaho
Chair, Catholic Health Association of the United States
Chair, Idaho Hospital Association Southwest Regional Leadership Council
Member, Idaho Health Quality Planning Commission
Member, Blue Cross of Idaho Board of Directors
Member, American Society for Aging
Healthcare executives today continue to face a growing number of obstacles, from financial issues to an increasingly competitive environment with our physician partners to a growing number of uninsured patients. As healthcare leaders, we must continually strive to meet the missions of our organizations within the constraints of this challenging environment. Commitment is key—we must be committed to achieving quality outcomes that further our mission and reflect the values of the organizations we serve.
To rise to the challenges that confront them, good leaders must possess superb negotiation and polarity management skills. I’ve been married for 35 years and have four sons, so I know firsthand that such skills not only serve you on a professional basis, but also on a personal one. My membership in ACHE has been invaluable in helping me develop my personal and managerial skills, including how to be a better negotiator. It also helps me stay current and knowledgeable about important issues in the field.
As healthcare leaders, we must continue our efforts to reform the delivery system through quality and patient safety initiatives. It is critical for ACHE members to demonstrate the leadership and action required to recenter American hospitals on their core business—patient-centered care. Only then will we individually and as a profession be truly successful.
Colonel Kyle D. Campbell, FACHE Commander (CEO)
Heidelberg Hospital and Health System
Heidelberg, Germany
Central European Healthcare Executives
Regents Advisory Committee
Executive Board, Parent Teacher Association
Red Cross Advisory Board
Boy Scouts of America
A wise leader once told me that people don’t care how much you know until they know how much you care. Therefore, today’s healthcare executives must be “leaders who care” by demonstrating care for their people, patients, the organization’s mission and the community.
The return on investment from mentoring and supporting colleagues is tremendous. My mentors helped me understand how leadership experiences, professional affiliation and education work in concert to provide future leaders with a wide variety of developmental opportunities. I spend significant time sharing this conceptual framework with my peers and subordinates.
Our biggest challenge as military leaders is the overarching mission, not just a single component of the healthcare sector. We must medically prepare our men and women for deployment to combat, care for them while deployed, provide battlefield evacuation and treatment, and meet all their post-deployment healthcare needs, all while continuing to meet the needs of family members and retirees. All of this must take place concurrently as we support our nation at war.
Given the rapidly changing and complex environment of today’s healthcare profession, affiliation with ACHE provides my colleagues and me the opportunity to remain knowledgeable and relevant and the
necessary skills and information to successfully lead our organizations.
Teri G. Fontenot, FACHE President and CEO
Woman’s Hospital
Baton Rouge, La.
Member, ACHE’s Nominating Committee
Member, ACHE’s Louisiana Regents Advisory Council
At-Large Director, American Hospital Association Board
Chair, AHA Operations Committee
Member, AHA Executive Committee
Member, Louisiana Commission on Perinatal Care and
Infant Mortality
Member, Louisiana State University System Research and Technology Foundation Board and Executive Committee
To be a good leader you have to be enthusiastic, optimistic and portray a can-do attitude in all situations. That is what makes healthcare so incredible—it is never one-size-fits-all. You have to consider each unique situation and possess a positive attitude that “my job is to overcome obstacles.” You can’t think about why things won’t work.
Being a good leader also is about balancing various needs and expectations. We are in the early stages of building a new hospital (set to be completed in 2009). While we plan, we need to keep in mind the different expectations of all involved, including our physicians and other staff, patients, the board and the administration. Those expectations must be balanced with limited resources.
The networking opportunities and professional development courses offered by ACHE have helped me develop the skills I need to face these challenges. As a member, you have a lot of opportunities to learn from a variety of different leaders in the field as well as from best practices. In addition, I have found it is easy to become involved with ACHE at the committee and state level. I would encourage others to seek out opportunities to become involved with the organization.
Todd C. Linden, FACHE President and CEO
Grinnell Regional Medical Center
Grinnell, Iowa
Instructor, Adjunct Faculty Member, University of Iowa and Des Moines University–Osteopathic Medical Center
Member, American Hospital Association Board of Advisors, Center for Healthcare Governance
Board Member, AHA Coalition to Protect America’s Healthcare
Member, Grinnell College Board of Trustees
Member, University of Iowa College of Public Health,
Board of Advisors
Compassion is something good leaders must possess; in fact, it is the most important thing. We must have the ability to put compassion into our days. Before I left home, with plans to follow in my father’s footsteps and start a career in healthcare management, my parents gave me these words of advice: Have fun, love, take care and be kind, live joyfully, have hope and trust in people and God. I try to share that wisdom with my students and staff and in my mentoring relationships.
The growing complexity of the healthcare environment can be stressful for healthcare leaders. We must try to stay focused on the basic mission no matter how stressful the day. I have learned to keep things in perspective by going to look at the newly born babies in the maternity ward or visiting the ICU.
To keep me sharp professionally, I participate in professional development and continuing education programs. It has helped me set some lofty goals for our organization and really raise the bar. ACHE has a rich networking element, which is essential for career growth. As an ACHE faculty member, I can attest to the value of peer learning. I encourage more affiliates to become faculty members. There is valuable, real-world experience to be shared.
Beaufort Longest, PhD, FACHE Allen Pond Professor of Health Policy and Management
Director, Health Policy Institute
Graduate School of Public Health,
University of Pittsburgh
Pittsburgh, Pa.
Member, Board of Fellows of the Institute of PoliticsAd hoc Member, The Community Health Committee (Board
of Directors at the University of Pittsburgh Medical Center)
Member, Advisory Board for IssuesPA
Member, Beta Gamma Sigma Honor Society in Business
Member, Delta Omega Honor Society in Public Health
The greatest challenge healthcare executives face today is fairly balancing the diverse interests of multiple stakeholders. The ubiquitous and solid advice I often give to early careerists about career building is to “do what you like and can do well.” Developing an informed vision, one that is based on a perception of reality that is very close to reality, will help them become stronger leaders and achieve a balance among stakeholders’ interests. This is an extraordinarily complicated undertaking, but the results for your organization and career are tremendous.
As a professional society, ACHE has helped me focus on important contemporary issues of teaching and research. It has encouraged me to define my interests and goals, while challenging myself and others. I have learned a great deal through my affiliation with ACHE, applying much of that knowledge to my academic career in health management and policy. Achieving fellowship status has been very important to me since the beginning of my career, although it has been spent in academia rather than in a practice setting. Through its educational programs and support, my ACHE membership has helped me stay connected with
the dynamic healthcare field.
William D. Petasnick President and CEO
Froedtert & Community Health System
Milwaukee, Wis.
2007 Chair-Elect, American Hospital Association
AHA Executive Committee
Chair, AHA Task Force on Delivery System Fragmentation
Adjunct Associate Professor of Health Management,
University of Iowa
Honorary Doctor of Health Sciences,
University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee
Healthcare is a top priority and a growing concern for Americans. Public opinion polling demonstrates this, and political candidates are increasingly trying to address it. Many hospitals are actively committed to and engaged in reform, focusing on the internal environment with efforts to improve patient safety, eliminate variations in practice and reduce healthcare disparities. Given the complex and highly interdependent healthcare environment, this internal focus must be coupled with a push for cohesive, national healthcare reform. This combination will transform healthcare and ultimately improve quality, access and cost.
I have learned that effective leadership requires starting with your heart and remaining ever mindful of your organization’s mission. Leadership requires a passion for the work you do; this passion is the foundation for an environment that fosters teamwork. ACHE’s commitment to lifelong learning programs and relationship building opportunities helps develop and elevate the skills we need to lead. ACHE has helped me develop lifelong relationships and has given me the experience needed to get involved at the national level with the American Hospital Association (AHA), where I will become chairman in 2008. ACHE and AHA have a strong and collaborative relationship, sharing a commitment to diversity, good governance and efforts to improve quality, access and cost.
Shilpa Shelton Associate Operating Officer
Neuroscience/Musculoskeletal Services
Duke University Hospital
Durham, N.C.
President, Triangle Healthcare Executive Forum
Member, Regents Advisory Council
Sometimes people get paralyzed with so much data that decisions are never made. I stand by the idea, “Many complicated analyses often guide you in the same direction as those done on the back of an envelope.” Often, we have to move ahead with available information and with our logical common sense. We also need integrity to follow or trust the leader. If staff and employees believe and trust their leader, they are more willing to work under unknown circumstances.
Today’s healthcare systems face the uncertainty of the increasing age of the Baby Boomers, who, in their own right, represent a large number of Medicare patients. This places a burden on healthcare, not only financially but also operationally. Baby Boomers will demand more from our healthcare system. We need to be prepared to meet the challenge by delivering greater customer service and giving them a greater voice in their healthcare decisions.
Toni Wimby, FACHE Associate Administrator
Emory Hospitals
Atlanta, Ga.
President, Georgia Association of Healthcare Executives (2006–2007)
Board member, Georgia State University Health
Administration Program
Member, Regents Advisory Council
Today’s top leaders must have integrity because it boosts the level of confidence that staff, divisions and others in the organization have in a leader, enabling everyone to achieve positive results in their professional lives. Ethics also are imperative to help leaders successfully interact with team members, assisting them in facing major challenges throughout the organization, such as declining reimbursement, an increasing level of bad debt due to uninsured and underinsured, and patient safety. While these issues impact an executive’s professional career, education of these issues help them grow personally.
“You are responsible for managing and advancing your own career,” was the best professional advice I ever received. To gain exposure, healthcare executives must self-promote and be involved with ACHE. On the local and national levels, ACHE provides exposure to many situations. Membership also has helped me by offering continuing education and networking with fellow executives throughout the country.
ACHE membership and my role as president in the Georgia Association of Healthcare Executives has helped me develop additional leadership skills that have positively impacted my performance and decision making on a professional level. During these exciting and challenging times in healthcare, ACHE is helping prepare leaders to better meet those challenges through education and by giving affiliates opportunities to collaborate with each other.
