Quality continues to march forward, while ahead of it marches the science of quality improvement. Highly reliable hospitals will examine the critical roles of leadership, safety culture, and robust process improvement in producing health care that does no harm. The Partnerships for Patients program will also be reviewed.

Hospital CEOs will discuss their EHR implementations and the long-term benefits of the HIT infrastructure beyond HITECH funds. Specifically, they will discuss the role of the EHR in recruiting physicians, aligning hospital/physician interests, and setting the stage for ACO participation.

Clinical effectiveness is yet another by-product of alignment. This session will outline the expectations for health systems that wish to pursue clinical integration. We’ll feature case studies for successful clinical alignment from highly effective organizations, and provide a roadmap to evaluate your path to clinical effectiveness.

Sometimes the present day dictates — other times the future outlook portends — but the thought process of whether and when to align a community hospital with a hospital system is ongoing in many markets. A case study will examine this deliberation process which is critical to the health of many communities nationwide.