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As with health care, the CEO role is undergoing a transformation. New skill sets will be needed.

Rewarding high-performing executives is essential but politically dicey during a recession. Here's how boards can make sound decisions--and defend them.

Finance: Executive leadership teams are an excellent way for the CEO, the board and other hospital leaders to coordinate their efforts.

The chair creates the climate of the board--and great ones can make virtually every aspect of their organization better.

New technology is being used by banks to help providers improve their revenue cycle through: Digital lockbox service. Remote deposit. Web-based payment. Automated payment processing at the point of service.

Technology innovations healthcare financial managers can expect to see in the near future include: Greater processing power, bandwidth, and storage capacity Consolidation of the computer infrastructure. Improved technology for verification of payer information and patient benefits.

Successful healthcare organizations have many ways to motivate and inspire their employees: Hire the right people. Communicate clearly and regularly to all employees. Encourage and support education and training. Reward and celebrate successes.

When planning resources for disaster response, hospitals should: Understand the mission of the equipment to be used. Be able to provide training. Learn how to use the resources most efficiently.

Technology and training are driving patient access improvement today. Although revenue cycle leaders face many of the same challenges they have dealt with in the past, technology is enabling them to work far more efficiently. Staff education boosts performance, and new training techniques use technology.

Maintaining the healthcare organization's charitable mission to the community is best served by having formal policies in place. Must-haves include: A written charity care policy tailored to the organization. Financial assistance policies. Processes for identifying and communicating with patients who may need financial assistance. Formal discounting and collection policies and practices that take into account every patient's ability to pay.

Boards are facing tough choices on executive compensation: Does their compensation package reward the right things? Is it too high or too low? The 2003 annual Hay Compensation Report gives boards the comparative data they need to help make the right choices.

Hospital boards are exercising more scrutiny than ever on executive pay, at a time when the disparity between salaries in health care and general industry has finally disappeared.

Executive Compensation Survey shows that health care salaries are going up and job satisfaction is going down. What can boards do?

According to the Hay Group, salary increases for non-CEO hospital execs have outpaced those for CEOs. The authors speculate that this trend represents a new respect for middle managers.

As pay trends go, one executive's bonus can be another's bane. Asked what they like about their compensation programs, health care execs and trustees say they're satisfied with the base salaries paid to their top people, but not with their bonus plans, especially for meeting long-term goals like stronger credit ratings and asset positions.

Performance incentives cover a wider--and deeper--swath of health care than ever, according to the latest Hay Group surveys. Yet it's clear that most organizations are homegrowing compensation strategies that blend base and incentive pay into a cohesive package.

Bedside technology offers a unique opportunity to enhance patient care and improve labor resource utilization. Achieving success with bedside technology in this environment is a difficult proposition with considerable risk. Based on the experience of the authors, there are seven keys to success which reduce the risk and drive the long-term usefulness of bedside technology.