The governing boards of hospitals help set the course for their organizations, and most board members work outside of healthcare, a new study finds.
Researchers examined the composition of the boards of top hospitals and found 14.6% of board members – or about 1 in 7 members – were health professionals, according to a study published Feb. 8 in the Journal of General Internal Medicine.
More than half of all hospital board members (56%) work in finance or business, which is almost four times higher than the number of board members who are health professionals, reports Chief Healthcare Executive.
The researchers examined the board of hospitals with high rankings in U.S. News & World Reports. They started with the top 20 hospitals and found public information on the boards of 15 hospitals. The analysis was conducted in July 2022.
Most of the board members working in healthcare are doctors (13.3%), the researchers found. Meanwhile, 0.9% of board members, or just about 1 in 100, are nurses.
Almost half of hospital board members (44%) work in the financial activities sector.
The vast majority of those in financial activities (80.2%) led financial corporations, including private equity firms, wealth management firms and banks. Others in the financial activities sector work in real estate (14.7%) and insurance (5.2%).
An additional 12.6% work in professional and business services. Read more.
