Pulse
Winning Formula Why healthy Board-CEO relationships are vital for hospitals
Dr Shravan Subramanyam, Shravan Subramanyam CEO - GE healthcare India and South Asia MD - Wipro-GE healthcare
The board of directors in a hospital or any organisation exists so that it can hold the CEO accountable for performance. The primary role of a board is to hire a CEO and, if required, discontinue their services if targets aren’t reached. The board essentially has only one employee – the CEO – and the latter must report to only one employer – the board. The relationship between the two parties is extremely complicated. While the hospital Board and the CEO are tactical partners working together towards a common vision, they also share a relationship of an employer and employee. And for any hospital or healthcare reforms to take place, it is critical to have a healthy and honest CEO-board partnership. 44
October 2021
Power partners While the board does employ the CEO, it is essential to recognise the CEO as a strategic partner. Often, the CEO of a hospital, usually a senior physician, is more up to speed about the hospital business and the markets around it than the board members who come from diverse sectors. So even while keeping accountability, the board needs to give the CEO free rein in certain matters. What happens if this board-CEO equation is made mutually accountable? This reciprocity, or mutual openness, only stands to benefit the CEO, the board and, eventually, the organisation. Both parties should simultaneously be facilitators and force multipliers. A study published in the Healthcare
