Aspirus Health ACHE-WI LDP Site Visit, June 23, 2022

The ACHE WI LDP cohort had their first site visit on Thursday, June 23, 2022.  This virtual visit showcased Aspirus Health, led by Andrea Harsh, System Manager-Provider Experience.  Aspirus is a non-profit, community-directed health system based in Wausau, Wisconsin. With more than 7,000 employees, Aspirus serves people in Wisconsin and Upper Michigan through an extensive hospital and clinic network, home health & hospice care, pharmacies, critical care, medical goods, nursing homes, a philanthropic & research foundation, and an affiliated physician network.  https://www.aspirus.org/.  Nine Aspirus leaders presented information ranging from how Aspirus works with schools to create experiences for students, The Medical College of WI, takeaways from a large system acquisition, The Aspirus Family House and a panel of leaders who provided insights and personal perspectives for successful leadership in healthcare.  It was a day packed full of information, conversation, and opportunity for emerging leaders to reflect on the development of their own leadership path.  The biggest takeaway from all of the leaders was “Just say yes”!

 

 

New Podcast Episode Released – Intentional Leadership and Coaching: Tim McKeough

Leadership is a journey fashioned with vulnerability and risk taking, steering many of us to build walls that unintentionally inhibit progress towards achieving our goals.  In this episode, we chat with Tim McKeough, President, Owner and coach with Q Up Success, who gives us a sneak peek at how working with a professional coach can help to take down those walls and bring clarity to our goals.  Tim connects the dots between intention and impact, and invites us to be vulnerable as we reflect on whether we’re really making the impact we intend.  Giving and receiving feedback is a key theme here.  It’s a no holds barred discussion on intentional leadership and coaching.

ACHE-WI Early Careerist Spotlight: Madalyn K. Buschman, MHA, CPCS

Where were you at in your career when you joined ACHE?

I was 10 years into my career and working as a Clinical Operations Manager in the federal government health services unit of a larger healthcare organization. I was able to attend an ACHE Cluster in Seattle my first year of membership and the experience was so rewarding I knew I wanted to continue to be a part of, and actively involved with, the organization as I continued my career.

Where are you now in your career?

I am currently an Operations Manager in the Department of Family Medicine at Mayo Clinic Health System in La Crosse, WI. Previous to that, I served as a Strategic Clinical Operations Manager at OptumServe. I have been fortunate to have others throughout my career invest in my professional development, and I feel that I am at a point in my career where I can pay that forward by supporting the growth and development of others.

How has ACHE been valuable to your career progression?

Through my participation in the ACHE-WI Chapter’s 2019-2020 Leadership Development Program, I gained exposure to healthcare executives throughout the state of Wisconsin that provided invaluable insight in leadership and professional development. This experience opened the door to a network of colleagues across the region equally eager in sharing their knowledge and career experiences. I have since contributed to ACHE-WI career development programming through committee involvement.

Who has been the most influential person in your career?

Someone whose relationship is very dear to me and I am grateful to consider her a mentor, friend, and family. Major Samantha Hanson has been highly influential in both my career and life. Samantha has been a model of integrity, courage, and service to others. I have observed her face challenges with grace, and she has taught me to lead with compassion and mindfulness. We share a passion for adventure and continuous learning.

What is something that you are working on recently that you are excited about?

In addition to my role as an Operations Manager in the Department of Family Medicine, I recently took a committee appointment with the Virtual Care Subcommittee in Southwest Wisconsin. I have the opportunity to work with an innovative group of colleagues eager to expand our capabilities in the virtual care space.

Tell me about your dream vacation.

I would go to a place where I could get lost in the countryside and wilderness of some European country. I want to travel across mountains and visit seaside towns. Sip espresso in some small shop and eat local cuisine. Lay on a beach and take a boat out on the water. Have adventures and appreciate life.

Forum on Advances in Healthcare Management Research

Forum on Advances in Healthcare Management Research

ACHE is inviting authors to submit proposals to present their research at the 15th annual Forum on Advances in Healthcare Management Research. This session will take place during ACHE’s Congress on Healthcare Leadership, March 27–30, 2023. The lead presenter of each selected proposal will receive a complimentary registration to Congress. Learn more about the selection criteria and submission instructions. Submit your up-to-400-word abstract by July 11, 2022.

Executive Diversity Career Navigator

Executive Diversity Career Navigator
The Executive Diversity Career Navigator is an online resource designed for healthcare leaders from underrepresented groups to successfully navigate their career path to senior-level positions. By enhancing diversity in leadership, the EDCN will help cultivate a diverse healthcare workforce that is best equipped to address disparities in care and access—effectively improving health for all.

EDCN offers its users access to information, tools and inspiration for navigating their career paths to senior level positions. It is a place for healthcare leaders from diverse backgrounds and at all career levels to learn from others who have successfully navigated their route to C-suite healthcare management. Learn more about EDCN.

Connect With Fellow Members

Connect With Fellow Members

We are pleased to offer members three new, free online communities for physician executives, Asian healthcare leaders and LGBTQ healthcare leaders. The communities’ platform makes it easier than ever for peers to connect in real time, tackle issues together and ask important career-related questions. Members can participate in discussion threads, share resources and best practices, and crowdsource innovative ideas and solutions.

To join, follow these steps:

  1. Log in to my.ache.org.
  2. Under “Helpful Links” on the right-hand side, click the last option, “My Communities.”
  3. Click the “Add” button to choose the online communities you wish to join. An MD or DO degree is required to join the Physician Executive Community.
  4. Watch your inbox for your welcome email and instructions to access your new community! The email will arrive within 24 hours.

We hope you will join these communities. If you have any questions, please email communitymanager@ache.org.

Save $225 on the Exam Fee

Save $225 on the Exam Fee

The FACHE® credential is the standard for board certification in healthcare management. Obtaining this prestigious credential signifies hard work, dedication and commitment. To thank you for your efforts, when you submit your completed application by June 30, 2021, along with the $250 application fee and all supporting documents, we’ll waive the $225 Board of Governors Exam fee for approved applications.

Learn more about the requirements to sit for the Exam and the resources available to help you prepare.

ACHE Call for Nominations for the 2023 Slate

ACHE Call for Nominations for the 2023 Slate

ACHE’s 2022–2023 Nominating Committee is calling for applications for service beginning in 2023. ACHE Fellows are eligible for the Chair-Elect and Governor vacancies and are eligible for the Nominating Committee vacancies within their districts. Those interested in pursuing applications should review the candidate guidelines for the competencies and qualifications required for these important roles. Open positions on the slate include:

  • Nominating Committee Member, District 2 (two-year term ending in 2025)
  • Nominating Committee Member, District 3 (two-year term ending in 2025)
  • Nominating Committee Member, District 6 (two-year term ending in 2025)
  • Four Governors (three-year terms ending in 2026)
  • Chair-Elect

Please refer to the following district designations for the open positions:

  • District 2: District of Columbia, Florida, Georgia, Maryland, North Carolina, Puerto Rico & Virgin Islands, South Carolina, Virginia, West Virginia
  • District 3: Illinois, Indiana, Iowa, Kentucky, Michigan, Minnesota, Nebraska, North Dakota, Ohio, South Dakota, Wisconsin
  • District 6: Air Force, Army, Navy, Veterans Affairs

Candidates for Chair-Elect and Governor should submit an application to serve that includes a copy of their resume and up to 10 letters of support. For details, please review the Candidate Guidelines, including guidance from the Board of Governors to the Nominating Committee regarding the personal competencies of Chair-Elect and Governor candidates and the composition of the Board of Governors.

Candidates for the Nominating Committee should only submit a letter of self-nomination and a copy of their resume.

Applications to serve and self-nominations must be submitted electronically to jnolan@ache.org and must be received by July 15. All correspondence should be addressed to Michael J. Fosina, FACHE, chair, Nominating Committee, c/o Julie Nolan, American College of Healthcare Executives, 300 S. Riverside Plaza, Ste. 1900, Chicago, IL 60606-6698.

Following the July 15 submission deadline, the committee may meet to determine which candidates for Chair-Elect and Governor will be interviewed. All candidates will be notified of the committee’s decision via email by Sept. 30, and candidates for Chair-Elect and Governor will be interviewed in person Oct. 27.

To review the Candidate Guidelines, visit ache.org/CandidateGuidelines. If you have any questions, please contact Julie Nolan at (312) 424-9367 or jnolan@ache.org.

Traits for Tomorrow’s Leaders – Q2 2022

Traits for Tomorrow’s Leaders

Developing leadership talent is a significant challenge facing healthcare; it is tough to address, as the exit of industry leaders looms large in light of career-defining pressures created by the pandemic. The pandemic’s timing coincides with many baby boomers entering retirement age. This has the potential to leave a vacuum of power and experience that neither of the two generations after them can address on their own. The number of Generation Xers is too few to fulfill the demand, and while some millennials are exceptionally qualified to take senior positions today, most are still developing and honing their skills. As healthcare organizations work to fill leadership positions and prepare the next generation of leaders, what traits will be most important for those leaders to possess?

Traits for Aspiring Leaders at all Stages
Entrepreneurship
: Develop an entrepreneurial mindset aimed at meeting others’ needs.
Although it seems to be part of a new vernacular, “entrepreneurship” in healthcare is hardly new. In her book Unlikely EntrepreneursCatholic Sisters and the Hospital Marketplace 1865–1925, Barbra Mann Wall shares the story of a 27-year-old Irish immigrant nun who sailed across the ocean in 1877 and would later become administrator of a major Catholic hospital in the U.S. That nun, Sister Lidwina Butler, would ultimately lead two different hospitals, and her second stint as a hospital administrator would last 18 years.

Her literal and figurative journeys defined her and many other religious women who set sail from Ireland and other European countries and some who relocated from within the United States to serve the healthcare needs of others. The women who made those journeys also helped set the standard for the modern healthcare leader: to create and sustain a robust health infrastructure and care models to take care of the vulnerable, their families and communities. Their model of entrepreneurship was as relevant then as it is today. They carefully and systematically studied their communities to identify unmet needs and focused relentlessly on meeting those needs—traits today’s leaders should aspire to as well.

Accountability: Be accountable to yourself and others.
For years, author Cy Wakeman has proposed that accountability––which she describes as the mindset to exert control over one’s circumstances and embracing reality––increases individual performance. Embracing reality and rejecting the urge to fill in the blanks with biases and drama are timeless characteristics that will help leaders succeed.

Trust and Trustworthiness
: Trust and be worthy of the trust of others.
In their Sept. 8, 2016, article in the journal Business Ethics: A European Review, authors Alvaro Lleo de Nalda of the University of Navarra, Manuel Guillen of the University of Valencia, and Ignacio Gil Pechuan of the Polytechnic University of Valencia, discuss their research on the influence of three factors that influence the trust between managers and subordinates. They use the widely accepted definitions of these terms as follows:

  • Ability: The skills and knowledge necessary to do one’s job.
  • Benevolence: The demonstration of caring for those under one’s leadership, and loyalty to them for reasons not related to self-interest.
  • Integrity: The adherence to sound ethical and moral principles (including an organization’s articulated values) and following through on one’s word.

Though organizations have multiple ways in which to influence the degree of trust employees have in them, there is no variable more able to impact trust than the immediate supervisor.

Higher Purpose: Connect to the mission and find a higher purpose at work.
In their book Option B, Adam Grant and Sheryl Sandberg speak about the importance of finding meaning at work. For those of us in the healthcare workforce, well-being is dependent on the healthy integration of life and work. As a generation of millennials engages in leadership pursuits, many also are experiencing how life and work are now permeating each other. They, like Gen X and baby boomers, realize the importance of what we do matters beyond profits and losses and that we can impact the lives of others for the better, thereby increasing fulfillment with work. To do work that matters also increases one’s ability to experience happiness and joy in life and work.

A Leadership Framework
Luminis Health has developed its Team, Change and Business leadership framework as the foundation of its efforts toward leadership development. Leaders who attend training or perform developmental activities intentionally tie what they have learned into this framework. This balanced approach ensures every aspect of a leader’s competency is appropriately supported and developed.

The TCB framework informs the identification and development of high-potential leaders. It also helps the organization achieve effective succession planning. Luminis Health’s Leadership Essentials, one of the mechanisms for leadership development based on the TCB framework, aims to develop a balanced set of competencies common to all leaders in the organization.

Tools for Team and Self-Development
As part of their development, leaders at Luminis Health become versed in principles of mindfulness and well-being. Leaders also use talent-measurement tools to uncover their strengths, help them lead with those strengths, as well as celebrate and capitalize on the strengths of others on their teams. The organization also administers emotional intelligence competency assessment tools. In addition, it offers opportunities for leaders to discuss the results revealed by both tools individually and in groups led by certified facilitators.

As the healthcare field continues to evolve, the next generation of leaders will need to be well prepared for what lies ahead. With these leadership traits in mind, and with rigor and attention to leadership development, healthcare organizations will be able to continue to care for their patients and improve the health of the communities they serve while providing career opportunities in which leaders and staff can thrive.

Adapted from “Traits for Tomorrow’s Leaders,” Healthcare Executive, J. Manuel Ocasio, FACHE, chief human resources officer, Luminis Health, Annapolis, Md.

Repelling Cybersecurity Events

In recent years, many healthcare organizations have stepped up their cybersecurity efforts, but phishing scams and ransomware attacks have become more sophisticated. Healthcare remains a prime target for criminals. Cybercriminals have learned that healthcare organizations not only maintain large quantities of data but also will pay substantial sums of money to avoid an interruption in patient care and protect the safety of patients.

Healthcare’s recent digital expansion means cybercriminals have more targets. Telehealth, remote patient monitoring and patient-focused digital tools, such as mobile health tracking apps and patient portals, extend a health system’s digital landscape far beyond a physical campus.

The pandemic has also brought cybersecurity challenges to the forefront. More employees working off-site means information from across the organization is accessed from unvetted locations. This requires attention to how the remote workforce’s processing, access and storage of data is secured.

The following actions can be taken to help organizations prepare for and repel a cybersecurity event:

Build your human firewall. A key takeaway of the publication is that cybersecurity can no longer be viewed only as the province of the IT department but must be the responsibility of all staff who have access to digital information, EHRs or network resources.

It cannot be overemphasized that organizations must build a culture of cybersecurity, also called the human firewall, in addition to their existing technical security programs. Basic cyber hygiene and patching will always be required. However, it only takes one person falling victim to a phishing scam to jeopardize the whole organization’s security posture, so the days of cybersecurity being solely IT’s responsibility are gone forever. This requires an awareness of cybersecurity threats, a continuous evaluation of existing threats and the incorporation of preventive strategies at all levels of the organization.

Gain senior leadership buy-in. A defining characteristic of an organization that establishes its human firewall is ardent buy-in from leadership. Effective senior leaders make sensitivity to cybersecurity threats and organizational preparedness part of the way the organization performs its work. An important step is supporting the chief information security officer’s promotion of cybersecurity programs. One program of importance is the development of a strong human firewall that achieves the following four objectives:

  1. Identification of social engineering attempts to get confidential information or a user’s credentials. Does staff know how to identify a phishing email or text?
  2. Rapid identification of a cyber event. Does staff know the signs of a cyberattack and how to report?
  3. Rapid response to a cyber event. Does staff know how to contain a cyber event?
  4. Continuous improvement. Is the program frequently reviewed and modified as needed?

Cybersecurity threats should be treated as a matter of when, not if. A strong human firewall requires an awareness of vulnerabilities and responses at all levels of the organization.

Establish staff training programs. With staff expected to take a greater role in cybersecurity, organizations would be remiss to neglect staff training. Training needs to include the entire workforce, not just clinicians. Every member of the organization needs to know that they are a critical part of an organization’s cyber defense and be educated to anticipate both conventional and nonconventional intrusions. These exercises should be tailored to different staff roles and the technology frequently used in each position.

To stay ahead of new threats, staff training cannot be a one-and-done event. Regular refreshers need to be part of the plan. Periodically evaluate staff to ascertain whether they appropriately respond to test cyber challenges such as phishing or social engineering tests. Based on the results of the testing, additional training should be conducted and the cycle repeated.

Testing should include how to identify and what to do in the event of a cyber security incident and not be limited to phishing tests.

Incorporate cyber emergency management. Responses to cybersecurity attacks need to be incorporated in other emergency plans. This includes having a clear link to business continuity and emergency management plans and ensuring staff can identify when a cyber incident should trigger the plan.

Any plan should include how to safeguard the greatest amount of data and information in a cyber event and who to notify if a potential breach occurs. In addition, operational contingencies need to be in place if a cyber event impacts some or all IT and biomedical systems. Staff can limit the impact of cyber events by thinking ahead and protecting critical backups from cybercriminals and making sure that offline emergency documentation is kept up to date.

Be mindful of staffing. Thinly spread staff and workforce burnout are growing issues as employees are asked to be more efficient and do more with the same or less. Overstretched and burnt-out staff make it challenging to maintain an effective human firewall because they are prone to making mistakes that affect security. Organizations, in recent years, have reduced headcounts to be as operationally efficient as possible. This limited staffing creates a challenge in how to prioritize daily operational responsibilities and strategic projects with important cyber initiatives and cyber responses. Senior organizational leadership needs to be mindful of these challenges and collaborate with IT and business leadership to ensure that one does not suffer because of the other and either clearly reprioritize activities or bring in additional staff as needed. This will be easier for some organizations than others, especially in the current climate, where, even if there is a desire to bring in additional staff, many organizations are struggling with recruiting and maintaining their workforce.

As an alternative, in some cases, to hiring a consultant or bringing in additional IT staff, a wealth of free and trusted resources is available from government agencies and business partners. Some free resources that highlight best practices and include free cybersecurity tools include Cyber Insurance Carriers, Cybersecurity & Infrastructure Security Agency, Healthcare and Public Health Sector Coordinating Council, InfraGard, Internet Crime Complaint Center, National Institute of Standards and Technology, and SANS.

The Joint Commission is also always willing to share its winning practices, and it will continue to post cybersecurity guidance and recommendations on its website for public use.

Adapted from “Repelling Cybersecurity Events,” Healthcare Executive, Patrick Ross, associate director, Federal Relations, The Joint Commission, Oak Brook, Ill.; and Michael DeGraff, director, Enterprise IT Security, The Joint Commission, Oak Brook, Ill.

ACHE Seeks Nominations for Its Most Prestigious Awards

ACHE is accepting nominations for the following three awards:

  • The Gold Medal Award is the highest honor bestowed by ACHE on outstanding leaders who have made significant contributions to the healthcare profession. This award identifies ACHE Fellows who best exemplify leadership at the organizational, local, state/provincial and national levels, and who continually contribute to the improvement of the delivery of healthcare services and community health. The deadline for submission of the nomination packet is Aug. 16.
  • The Lifetime Service and Achievement Award recognizes Life Fellows and Retired Fellows who have made outstanding, nationally recognized contributions to advance the profession of healthcare management and ACHE. The deadline for submission of nomination letters is July 16.
  • The Robert S. Hudgens Memorial Award for Young Healthcare Executive of the Year recognizes early careerists for outstanding achievements in the field of healthcare management. The deadline for submission of nomination letters is July 16.

Visit News and Awards for full details on the nomination process, award criteria and past recipients. If you have questions, please contact Jennifer L. Connelly, FACHE, CAE, vice president, Regional Services, Department of Executive Engagement, at (312) 424-9320 or jconnelly@ache.org.