Practices

 


Governing Executive Compensation & Performance

Challenges facing healthcare organizations today:

Healthcare boards are composed of volunteers who are honored to serve their communities. But today regulations and media scrutiny require more time, oversight and accountability from board members for everything from quality to cost effectiveness to reasonableness of physician and executive pay. It is crucial for tax-exempt organizations to ensure their executive compensation programs comply with all statutory requirements and can be defended as reasonable to both regulators and the public.

The re-designed IRS Form 990 has new "due diligence" requirements and potential liability for directors. New board tools are needed for effective governance of tax-exempt organizations.

Delivering Solutions:

Integrated Healthcare Strategies has developed a suite of Best Practices Governance manuals that, when used together, offer a comprehensive solution to the diverse challenges boards face in determining and communicating their decisions about leadership continuity, development and pay.

Governance of Executive Compensation (GEC) Manual
The GEC is designed to provide your organization's governing body with the disciplined guidance necessary to oversee your responsibility to design and administer your organization's executive base, fringe and incentive compensation programs. The GEC Manual is a foundational document for a disciplined process to meet your IRS and Medicare "due diligence" requirements. The manual:

  • Provides critical education for your board and compensation committee
  • Empowers boards with step by step instructions and processes for creating an Executive Compensation Committee that is fully compliant with IRS guidelines
  • Guides your committee to establish a valid Rebuttable Presumption of Reasonableness that meets IRS guidelines

CEO Performance Appraisals
Large challenges demand high executive performance. Boards are upgrading their approach to CEO performance planning and appraisal as a means to:

  • Retain executive talent
  • Enhance the development of executive performance
  • Recognize and reward superior executive results
  • Substantiate compensatory levels

Our recent work with over 200 high performance CEOs now allows us to make new tools available to support CEOs and their boards in managing the challenge of CEO appraisals that evolve from modern performance planning and leadership development sessions. Click here for a demo of our web-based CEO appraisal tool.

Board Communication Tool Kit for Leadership Compensation
Boards are nervous about how best to respond to the reporter or regulator's inquiry about executive and physician leader compensation. Is the pay competitive and fair? Will our compensation philosophy and strategy help us attract and retain the executive talent we need for organizational success? Our advisors make available a tool kit of materials and disciplined process to help you manage the growing calls for transparent and accountable executive pay. It addresses such areas as:

  • Constituency communication strategies
  • Form 990 Interpretation
  • Indicators of community benefit
  • Executive compensation philosophy

For more details on what is included in the Board Communication Tool Kit and to view samples from each section of the Board Communication Tool Kit, click here.

CEO Vacancy Planning
Anticipating a potential vacancy in top executive leadership is one of the primary responsibilities of high performance organizations. There are many reasons why vacancies occur and different causes present unique and specific challenges. The CEO Leadership Vacancy Manual provides you as trustees with a "break-glass" emergency plan that you can implement "off the shelf". Features include:

  • Unique circumstances and requirements of potential vacancy scenarios
  • Delegation of executive authority - Who and How?
  • Communication protocols
  • Compensation considerations