HTNYS' 44th Annual Trustee Conference: Photos and recap

Healthcare leaders rely on governance excellence to guide their organizations forward through current and future challenges.

Last week, healthcare leaders from across the state gathered in Saratoga Springs for the Healthcare Trustees of New York State 44^th Annual Trustee Conference, Inspiring Governance Excellence.

There, trustees and other leaders gained tools and strategies to take back to their boardrooms. We saw an increase in attendance for the second straight year after returning to an in-person format in 2022, and the feedback has been excellent. 

The conference kicked off with welcoming remarks by Sharon Hanson, chair of the HTNYS Board of Governors and secretary of the Erie County Medical Center Corporation Board of Directors. She discussed the tremendous work New York's healthcare providers do every day, despite serious challenges. She showed a video highlighting examples of this work and expressed her gratitude for trustees’ dedication to serving their communities.

Attendees also heard from HANYS Board Chair Thomas Carman, President and CEO, Samaritan Health System, who joined HANYS President Bea Grause, RN, JD, for a fireside chat. Grause discussed HANYS’ work related to its publication, The Case for Change, and how this effort to bring together stakeholders from across the healthcare spectrum benefits the association's advocacy and its members.

Carman shared his CEO perspective on what is keeping healthcare leaders up at night, including workforce shortages, fiscal pressures, throughput challenges and regulatory burdens. They then discussed the importance of long-term work and what it will take to be successful and delved into the theme, "New friends. New ideas. New vision."

Grause also joined James V. McDonald, MD, MPH, Commissioner of Health, DOH, to discuss his priorities and vision for the future of New York's healthcare system. He addressed health equity, current public health challenges and opportunities, the severe financial challenges confronting hospitals including workforce shortages, and his aspiration of achieving more equitable and integrated care delivery. 

Other conference highlights include:

• Shawn G. DuBravac, PhD, CFA, futurist and The New York Times bestselling author, delivered an entertaining keynote that explored the five drivers of change governing boards need to understand to ensure healthcare delivery in their communities. He raised five key questions that trustees should ask and asserted that healthcare leaders should recognize that the defining theme for the next 20 years will be the shift from digitization to “datafication” and that hospitals will function as data systems in the future.
   
• Boards must fully engage with hospital leadership as partners to achieve optimal governance and outcomes. Pamela R. Knecht, president and chief executive officer, Accord Limited, reviewed five best practices to ensure that each board member is truly engaged in and contributing to conversations and decision-making. She hopes CEOs and boards will talk more about what is keeping their CEOs up at night. In a separate breakout session, she focused on how to maintain effective board committees to improve the board’s overall functioning by driving focused, efficient and informed board discussions on the issues that matter.
   
• Board members are responsible for the financial oversight of their organizations, but many don’t necessarily have a finance background or expertise. So, Eric K. Shell, CPA, MBA, chairman, Stroudwater Associates, reviewed key hospital finance concepts, including general accounting, key performance metrics, financial statements, hospital reimbursement and value-based payment. Then, in another session, he focused on the struggles faced by rural and community hospitals and outlined strategies for these facilities to not only survive but thrive in the fast-approaching era of population health.
   
• Private equity continues to play an increasing role in healthcare services, impacting the entire continuum of care. Richard Zall, partner and chair, Healthcare Transactional and Regulatory Practice, King & Spalding, examined PEs’ impact on hospitals, physician services and other related sectors. He also noted opportunities for collaboration with PE and examples of beneficial win-win collaborations.
   
• Paul W. H. Bohne, managing partner, and Susan M. Snyder, executive partner, WittKieffer, asserted that succession planning is one of a board’s key responsibilities, whether preparing for the organization’s next CEO or its own future leadership and membership. They provided key steps boards should take now to ensure governance continuity.
   
• Colleen McVeigh, lead strategist, Medicaid 1115 waiver, HANYS, explained what the state's new Medicaid 1115 waiver means for New York’s hospitals and health systems, and the role new social care networks will play. Paul Milton, FACHE, president and CEO, Ellis Medicine, who chairs the board of an organization recently selected as a social care network, shared how his hospital is preparing to engage in the waiver.
   
• Artificial intelligence is in the news every day, but what does it mean for healthcare? Steven Berkowitz, MD, founder and president, SMB Health Consulting, explained how trustees should oversee AI in their organizations by including it as a significant component of strategic planning, practicing financial stewardship with AI products, ensuring patient safety and outcomes from AI, providing ongoing education for board members, caregivers and employees, and committing to security efforts. He also asserted that organizations should consider developing an AI council and a chief AI officer, or “CAIO.”
   
• As cybersecurity attacks on hospitals and health systems grow in frequency and severity, trustees are critical to understanding and curtailing cybersecurity risks. Thomas Hallisey, director, digital health strategy, HANYS, reviewed the latest big hacks and moderated a panel discussion with an organization that recently experienced a cyberattack. The panel included:
   
  • Joseph B. Cuozzo, MBA, vice president, information technology, Richmond University Medical Center
  • Timothy C. Harrison, chair, Richmond University Medical Center, and member of the HTNYS board of governors
  • Daniel J. Messina, PhD, FACHE, President and CEO, Richmond University Medical Center

You could hear a pin drop in the room as they read the back-and-forth negotiations between the hackers and the incident response team. They shared the operational, clinical and financial impacts of the attack and lessons learned, and expressed the importance of incident response planning, regular backups and recovery testing.

Kristopher Kusche, CISSP, CPHIMS, FHIMSS, HCISPP, senior vice president and system chief information officer, Albany Med Health System, shared what boards should know/ask, what they need to hear and what they need to ensure for effective oversight of cybersecurity. He asserted that his biggest recommendation for the audience is to hire a third-party risk assessment company.

Hallisey concluded by reviewing the new cyber regulations proposed by DOH that will require reporting to the board.

• Healthcare quality measures can be confusing. Ann Scott Blouin, PhD, MBA, MSN, RN, FACHE, president and founder, PSQ Advisory, reviewed criteria to consider including in board reporting, performance measurement changes driven by regulatory agencies and value-based purchasing agreements, and questions that trustees can ask to understand the nature and impact of quality and safety measures.
   
• It's an important election year and, right before the elections, David Wasserman, senior editor and elections analyst, The Cook Political Report with Amy Walter, and NBC Contributor, closed the conference with a detailed look at the presidential election, key U.S. House races in New York, the national issues and themes playing out in local races, and how healthcare factors into national and state election debates.

Thank you to all who attended! Please remember to use HTNYS for your governance education. Keep in touch with us and let us know your needs so we can better support you in your roles as healthcare trustees.

Mark your calendar for next year’s conference at The Saratoga Hilton on Sept. 11 - 13, 2025, in Saratoga Springs. We look forward to seeing you there!