From the March/ April Issue...

As you receive this issue of the Journal of Healthcare Management, the 2018 Congress on Healthcare Leadership of the American College of Healthcare Executives is set to get underway, March 26–29 in Chicago. ACHE's Congress is always a great networking opportunity. Please keep an eye out for me if you plan to attend and would like to discuss serving as an author of a practitioner application to accompany a future research article. (Meanwhile, be sure to formalize your interest by registering on the JHM website at www.editorialmanager.com/jhm.)

Conversations with healthcare leaders are always inspiring and informative to me as editor of JHM, even when we speak long distance. I recently had the opportunity to meet (virtually, via Skype) Howard P. Kern, FACHE, president and CEO of Sentara Healthcare, who is the featured interviewee in this issue.

Sentara is an integrated delivery system that includes everything from an insurance company to long-term care facilities. As Mr. Kern explained to me, a full range of organizational capabilities is essential to meeting community and population health needs. Moreover, changes in the payment and social environments are driving the movement toward building organizations that can make an impact on the social determinants of health.

One of the two columns in this issue reinforces that observation. Randy Oostra, DM, FACHE, president and CEO of ProMedica, provides insights into the strategies that are leading community engagement initiatives at his not-for-profit healthcare system based in Toledo, Ohio. He recommends that an organization first focus on the individuals in a community and then engineer a strategy that meets their needs while sustaining the organization's long-term viability. This approach is particularly apt for a community that has experienced the boom-and-bust cycle so common to U.S. cities.

Continue reading this Issue's Editorial here...​

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