Size, composition, and culture of high-performing hospital boards.

At the national, state, and community levels of American society, there is a growing cry for more accountability and better performance by the governing boards of business firms, institutions of higher learning, and health care organizations. A recently completed study has examined selected aspects of governance in a set of high-performing nonprofit hospitals versus hospitals that are similar in several respects but whose performance is midrange. This article discusses the findings with respect to the boards' size, composition, and culture.