SFHEF Newsletter

South Florida Healthcare Executives Forum, Inc.
(SFHEF)

2008 President’s Message

On behalf of the Board of Directors I am pleased to announce that the South Florida Healthcare Executive Forum (SFHEF), Inc., the South Florida local chapter of the American College of Healthcare Executives (ACHE) has been awarded the 2008 ACHE Chapter of Distinction Award. In order to receive this prestigious award the SFHEF Inc. had to meet or exceed two out of three key ACHE annual benchmarks in our efforts to improve healthcare delivery by providing education and social activities for our members in 2007. In other words, the SFHEF Inc. performed its mission within the top 10% of over 80 local ACHE Chapters nationwide. The level of benefit that the SFHEF Inc. provides to its local ACHE members (education and networking activities), local healthcare administration students (scholarships, healthcare facility tours, case competitions, etc.), and the local community (FACHE board exam study group, healthcare community service awards, web job postings, etc.) is something that everyone involved should be very proud of! This award will be presented at the ACHE 2008 Congress on Healthcare Leadership in Chicago, IL on Tuesday March 11, 2008 at the MacEachern Luncheon.

2008 is already shaping up to be another banner year for the SFHEF, Inc. The Forum achieved a record turnout (over 100 attendees) and record sponsorship by our corporate partners for the annual installation dinner on January 24th, 2008 at the Miami Beach Resort featuring guest speaker Dr. Thomas Dolan, FACHE, President/CEO of the American College of Healthcare Executives. Our first networking event on February 21st, 2008 at Gatsby’s in Davie was a great success--with over 40 attendees--networking fun was had by all. On March 27th, 2008 our first educational event (facility tour, social, and guest speaker) will be at Memorial Hospital Miramar—I hope you can all attend. Please check the SFHEF, Inc. website for information on more upcoming events throughout the year.

It is the goal of the SFHEF Board of Directors—your chapter’s elected, volunteer leadership--to win the 2009 ACHE Chapter Award of Excellence. In order to win, the SFHEF, Inc. must meet or exceed all three ACHE mission performance benchmarks in providing educational and social activities in an effort to improve healthcare delivery.

For 2008, the ACHE Award Benchmarks have been modified slightly to incorporate the new combined ACHE local chapter model that the SFHEF, Inc. signed onto in 2007:

2008 Award Criteria (with SFHEF, Inc. 2007 performance metrics comparison):

• Indexed attendee hours: Chapters must provide at least 5.40 hours of chapter event programming per chapter member. In 2007 SFHEF, Inc. provided 11.37 hours per member (standard in 2007 was 8.54). Please note that our Board of Governors Exam study group counts toward our program hours (39 hours in 2007).


• Level of member satisfaction: Chapters must receive a level of chapter member satisfaction of 7.64 or higher on the annual survey sent out to members in the fall. In 2007 53 SFHEF, Inc. members responded to the survey scoring an average of 7.14 (standard in 2007 was 7.07). We have to improve by 1/2 a point in member satisfaction in 2008.


• Net membership Growth (replaces penetration of affiliate market): Chapters must have a net ACHE membership growth of 8%. Currently SFHEF Inc. has 443 ACHE members (including student members). We need to add 36 ACHE members (including ACHE student members) within our geographic region in 2008. Additionally, as a result of the combined membership structure, starting in 2009, local healthcare executives and students must become members of ACHE in order to be members of the SFHEF, Inc.

Improving our performance on these three metrics focuses and drives the Board of Directors in everything we do. In addition, the Board has reviewed the 2007 membership satisfaction survey which has identified a few key areas of improvement. Below are a couple of "low hanging fruit" we are already addressing with action right now, others will take more time (which I will highlight in future President’s message updates).

1. Website Satisfaction. Our website is below national average. Our members more than average expect to find job banks, information about members who have had career transitions, and a bulletin board to discuss questions with fellow healthcare managers. In response the Board has entered into a partnership with Jobing.com in both Dade and Broward counties and we are migrating over to web hosting by ACHE. This should provide us with new capabilities to include: online event registration and payment options, member’s only content and blogs, and a greatly improved format.

2. SFHEF Newsletter. Our members are less familiar with our newsletter than other Chapter’s newsletters. In addition, our members want our newsletter to have more local news, more on upcoming chapter events, and more interviews. In response the Board has decided to use ACHE’s new local chapter electronic newsletter service. This will help our volunteers that contribute to the newsletter get more pertinent content out to our members on a more-timely basis. All members are strongly encouraged to contribute to the newsletter. Please contact Ruth Hernandez (rhernandez@citrushc.com) or Zusel Matos (zmatos@med.miami.edu)--our Communication’s Chair and Chair-Elect for opportunities to contribute.

In summary, the future is very bright for the profession of healthcare administration in South Florida and the South Florida Healthcare Executive Forum, Inc. (SFHEF)—the local chapter of the American College of Healthcare Executives (ACHE). Your elected, volunteer Board of Directors is committed to improving healthcare delivery by providing professional development opportunities through educational and networking events, but the key ingredient is your participation!! I strongly encourage you to join ACHE http://www.ache.org/joinache.cfm and make the commitment to work to improve healthcare delivery through life-long learning. Please get involved with our events, volunteer your time, challenge yourself to pass the FACHE exam (the quality standard in our profession), read Healthcare Executive or Frontiers, and attend ACHE Congress or an Educational Cluster. I bet you will be glad you did!

I look forward to seeing you at one of our upcoming 2008 events! And as always, we invite you to share your thoughts and comments on how we may improve your member satisfaction. Thank you!

Noel Christian Pace, FACHE
2008 President
South Florida Healthcare Executive Forum, Inc.