The Effingham Hospital’s Board of Trustees has completed the Georgia Hospital Association (GHA) hospital authority certification program.

Hospital CEO Norma Jean Morgan explained that the comprehensive course has promoted a greater awareness in the hospital’s leadership in the efficiency and methodology of Hospital Authority management. By meeting these educational requirements of this certification program, hospital trustees have gained a better understanding of overall governing leadership excellence as well as how to implement a structure for improving their own knowledge and leadership potential.

The GHA has designed this trustee certification program to enable Georgia’s hospitals to utilize governance best practices, to promote the coordination of care, and the best use of resources, and to demonstrate to their community, lawmakers, regulators, physicians, employees, business and other community stakeholders that Georgia hospitals understand and embrace the need for governance accountability; are willing to formally certify their adherence to governance best practices; are committed to care management and coordination of resources; embrace community accountability and transparency; structure their community benefit and outreach programs to meet identified community needs; utilize data from the GHA State of Health Data Report to identify and address areas of need especially for the uninsured and under-insured; utilize performance data to identify opportunities for improvement and to monitor progress to improve quality and safety; and integrate local health efforts with state programs.