June 04, 2010 03:09am EST 

The Iowa Hospital Association (IHA) is the organization that represents Iowa’s hospitals and supports them in achieving their missions and goals. With the vision of being Iowa’s most trusted, respected, and influential leader in health policy and advocacy, as well as being a valuable informational and educational resource, the IHA commits to integrity, leadership, innovation, and engagement in all that they do. In 2009, the IHA has spoken out on current issues of hospital tax-exempt statuses, hospital operations, Medicare value-based purchasing, and graduate medical education. Additionally, for the future, the IHA will focus on the nursing workforce, the department of inspections and appeals and the behavioral health delivery system.
Recently, the IHA launched an on-demand governance education initiative available on their website. The new service was developed by IHA with The Walker Company Health Consulting in response to hospital requests for governance education programs to be presented and discussed at board meetings. The service, called Trustee Foundations, provides hospitals with access to timely and relevant governance education programs when they are needed. There are currently 14 programs available falling into three general topic areas:
“Boardroom Basics” programs explore the fundamental roles and responsibilities of hospital boards and individual trustees, including topics about mission integrations, strategic planning, and dealing with conflicts of interest
“Governance Insights” programs provide current information and emerging issues and topics that influence and impact organizational success, including issues like health care unionization, billing and collections practices and the revised IRS Form 990.
“Leadership Perspectives” programs focus on delivering unique perspectives on leadership issues and challenges that boards must understand, including governance “never events” and how to conduct a governance self assessment.
More information about the service can be found on its website here.
Additionally, IHA will host the 2010 IHA Health Care Leadership Series, a series of six programs over six months that cover finance and legal issues critical for managers to know as well as practical human relations skills such as building trust, conflict resolution, and keeping staff accountable.

More information about the series, as well as registration, can be found on their website.