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The board of trustees is an essential component of your hospital's or health system's strategic planning process. It can provide management with a valuable sounding board and offer a multitude of new ideas for growth and success. With board members' help, your organization can create a strategic plan that is in line with its mission and values, and addresses the needs of the community and prospective patients. In light of the recent corporate scandals involving Enron and the Sarbanes-Oxley Act of 2002, the public is even more focused on the checks-and-balances systems of leadership from small businesses to large Fortune 500 corporations.