Last week, the Texas Hospital Association convened its 2024 cohort of Leadership Fellows at THA headquarters in Austin for the first of four in-person, two-day modules.
With 24 fellows participating in this year’s program, it’s one of the largest cohorts in recent years – highlighting the industry’s renewed mission to protect and further the interests of Texas hospitals.
From clinic halls to corner offices, participants in this year’s program span the spectrum of health care leadership, including CEOs, chief nursing officers, finance directors, patient safety leaders and many other disciplines are represented in this cohort.
“I have been in health care administration for 28 plus years,” says Barbara Vazquez, DNP, MSN, RN, vice president and chief nursing officer at Christus Children’s Hospital. “There is always an opportunity to learn, but most importantly this is a venue to advocate and make a difference in areas that are burdening the industry.”
Meet the members of the Leadership Fellows class of 2024
From the largest hospital systems in the state to rural Critical Access Hospitals, Leadership Fellows represent the diverse needs of Texas hospitals, which is necessary to ensure health care policy is rooted in reality.
During the two-day meetings, fellows are educated on policy core competencies, real-time legislative updates and communications and presentation strategies. Over the next nine months, fellows will take this knowledge to work on their capstone projects, which revolve around a topic provided by THA that reflects the challenges and opportunities hospitals face. This year’s cohort will explore topics related to workforce shortages and training, the impact of prior authorization, behavioral health coverage parity and health insurance transparency.
In addition to their capstone project, each fellow will prepare and deliver a mock legislative testimony, presenting key components of their capstone to a mock committee comprised of THA lobbyists and policy staff who will emulate real committee members.
Since the 2023 legislative session, during which hospitals were painted as the perpetrators of high health care costs, leaders across the hospital industry have answered the call for more hospital advocates to educate the public and lawmakers about the true drivers of health care costs.
“Since the last legislative session, we’ve seen how important it is for our members to champion the advocacy work we’re doing,” says Lindsay Thompson, senior director of Education and Governance Programs at THA. “This year, we are aligning our capstones with the interim priorities with additional urgency and emphasis on the importance of engaging the entire hospital in this grassroots process.”
Past capstone projects have transcended the program into statewide policy. Kathy Griffis, vice president of clinical operations and chief nursing officer at Titus Regional Medical Center, worked with members of her 2022 cohort to develop a capstone that reduced workplace violence in Texas emergency departments. The capstone-turned-policy was accepted into the final budget that passed during the state of Texas’ 2023 regular legislative session.
While the 2024 cohort consists of 24 Texas hospital executives, Thompson hopes the program’s impact extends to staff members at each hospital represented in the cohort, saying, “We really hope to see these leaders take what they learn here back to their organizations to inspire more grassroots advocacy.”
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