Doug Hastings, Chair of the firm's Board of Directors and a Member of the Firm in the Health Care and Life Sciences practice, in the Washington, DC, office, was quoted in an article titled "Boards See Evolving Role in Compensation Oversight."
Following is an excerpt:
In the more than a dozen years that Clem Wilkes Jr. has served as a director of Mountain States Health Alliance, the compensation arrangement with the hospital system's chief executive has undergone plenty of changes.
The Johnson City, Tenn.-based system's top executive no longer receives an automobile as a job perk. The board of directors has restructured the CEO's retirement payouts. And every three years, the board reviews incentives tied to financial and quality performance.
In response to increased scrutiny, directors and trustees are "not just sitting back and responding to things," but have grown more proactive, says Douglas Hastings, a healthcare attorney in the Washington office of Epstein Becker & Green.
Some states and hospital trade groups have responded with new training and certification for hospital governing boards. At least a dozen states offer some education for directors and trustees, according to research published by the American Journal of Medical Quality in 2011. In New Jersey, hospital board training has been required by law since 2009.