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Nemours Foundation Board Turns to Experienced Pros

Analysis  |  By Philip Betbeze  
   February 02, 2017

Long populated by dedicated civic leaders, hospital and health system boards such as the one at the Nemours Foundation are reaching out to healthcare leaders with much-needed industry expertise.

A board's mission is to ensure that the organization thrives. What if the best way to achieve that goal requires the board to reconstitute itself?

That's no easy task, because the people who must make the changes could see their own roles diminished or eliminated.

More than ever, health system boards are seeking out members with broad healthcare expertise at the highest level. But recruiting and installing that talent often requires other board members to relinquish power and influence.

Many nonprofit healthcare boards, even at the biggest systems, are community-based, and peopled by dedicated civic leaders. Despite their good intentions, this type of board leadership may no longer work. There is a growing need for board members who bring expertise from other healthcare organizations with experience managing for value.

That's where the board of the Nemours Foundation, which oversees Nemours Children's Health System found itself in 2006 when David Bailey, MD, came aboard as CEO at the health system's Jacksonville, Fla., headquarters.

Wanted: Expertise
"We needed to bring on folks who have an intimate understanding not just of governance, fiduciary responsibility and compliance, and the strategic plan, but also folks who understood the real-world challenges of healthcare today with its evolving consumerism, the impact of technology, and the drive to take care of the health of a population," he says.

Bailey worked closely with his board and the health system has grown from a $500 million net revenue operation a decade ago to a $1.2 billion institution with two children's hospitals and 60 locations in six states today.

Last fall, the Nemours Foundation added four national health leaders to its board:

  • Linda Norman, dean of the Vanderbilt University School of Nursing and the board's first nurse leader
  • Valerie Montgomery Rice, MD, president of the Morehouse School of Medicine
  • Jim Hunt, retired executive vice president and CFO of The Walt Disney Co.
  • Marc Probst, CIO of Intermountain Healthcare

"It was the right time to bring in more expertise" that could help in guide Nemours "in this uncertain future," says Bailey.

Another way for healthcare organizations, especially non-profits, to find exactly the right expertise is to use a professional recruiter. To land its four newest members, Nemours used an RFP process to select a search firm.

"[The search firm's recruiter] understood what we were after, our corporate values, and seemed to have access to well-placed individuals who could fill our needs," Bailey says. "Within a short time, she had 30 individuals who were very interested and very qualified."

Nemours trustees interviewed the recruits and picked the four who were added in October. The new board members will be paid about $40,000 per year for their service, and are expected to provide a wealth of experience and knowledge from current and prior roles.

Top of Their Game
Bailey says Probst is "extraordinarily knowledgeable in using tech to advance quality, safety, and access," and says his expertise will be instrumental as Nemours relies more on digital technology and the security concerns that accompany that reliance.

"We looked for a specific person who is at top of his game, and Marc's that person," says Bailey. "Every health system faces challenges in how to improve access, cost, and improve the health of the entire population in the markets you're serving. And the folks we brought in each bring a piece of experience to that puzzle."

As legacy Nemours trustees who have served longer than 10 years roll off the board over the next three years, Bailey says new members with national experience and expertise will be brought on to replace them.

The board has about 10 members now, and can max out at 15 or 16 as it expands 'to fit the systems' growing need for expertise.

Giving Back
As for paying a stipend to both new and legacy board members, Bailey says that decision reflects the reality that these experts spend their spare time overseeing the health system.

He calls the price of that expertise' a bargain.

"Most of them go on to contribute at least [the amount of the stipend] back to Nemours through our fund for children's health," he says. "It's almost like a transfer to them and back to us but it is an amount that provides an acknowledgement that they are spending a lot of time with us. In terms of their value in the marketplace, it's a pittance."

Philip Betbeze is the senior leadership editor at HealthLeaders.

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