CHEF President's Corner

Exam Online Community Offers a Complimentary Interactive 

Members preparing for the Board of Governors Examination can access the Exam Online Community as a complimentary and supplementary resource that can boost their confidence and help them succeed. The Online Community is an interactive platform to learn and glean study tips from other Members taking the Exam. Plus, there is the opportunity to discuss Exam topics with experts for better understanding and the option to participate in study groups. Interested Members can join the Exam Online Community atbogcommunity.ache.org. 

 Avoid Wasted Time to Boost Productivity

A Message from your ACHE Regent

ACHE Members of the 

Metropolitan Chicago area,

Let's continue the theme of 

setting ONE GOAL at a time.  

Achieve just ONE, celebrate, 

and move to the next.  It doesn't need to be as audacious as the Chicago Blackhawks, but make it personal, make sure it directs your days, and focuses your attention.  Mine is to kick off my Regent term by supporting you - EACH of you - however I can.  That might be by introducing you to Chapter activities reinvigorating your national ACHE involvement to make an introduction between members....the point is - have a goal, and pursue it until you achieve it!

Members ask me, "What does a Regent do?"  The ACHE Council of Regents are elected FACHEs who work with the chapters (in our case, Chicago Health Executives Forum), the ACHE Higher Education Network (for Metropolitan Chicago, HEN programs are:  Governors State University Health Administration, Loyola University Chicago MBA Healthcare Management, Northwestern University Health Industry Management Program, Rush University Health Systems Management, and University of Illinois at Chicago Healthcare Administration Program) and others in the local healthcare community, to deliver programs, products and services to healthcare executives, faculty, students and the supplier community.  And the next question is, "What does that mean, for me, the ACHE member?".   Regents help to provide advice to ACHE on policy to best serve their members, reach out to the member (and non-member) healthcare community at an executive level to keep abreast of local needs, help to provide greater value of ACHE on each HEN campus and provide career guidance to students, recent graduates, non-healthcare managers seeking to enter the field and those already in the field who wish to advance in their careers.

Click here for the full article.

The Physician Executives Forum and Healthcare Consultants Forum launched last year to provide added value to physician executive and healthcare consultant members via tailored resources to meet these groups' unique professional development needs. 

A one-day education program is a cornerstone benefit of both Forums that offers an affordable learning and networking opportunity. Dates and location for these programs are as follows:

Healthcare Consultants Forum Education Program
Sept. 12, 2014

Chicago Marriott O'Hare

More details available at ache.org/HCForum

Physician Executives Forum Education Program
Oct. 11, 2014
Hyatt Regency O'Hare
More details available at ache.org/PEForum

The perspectives of new competitors changed the market dynamics considerably. The newly imposed regulations and rising consumer dissatisfaction with the quality and reliability of U.S. manufactured autos represented a huge opportunity to enter a previously impenetrable U.S. market. The conditions inspired innovative Japanese and other foreign manufacturers to develop new business models and manufacturing processes appropriate for the new market conditions and consumer-informed requirements. What appeared to be overnight, companies like Toyota, Honda, Datsun/Nissan, and others began to flood the U.S. market with high quality, dependable vehicles at price points welcomed by insightful consumers. These new business models were supported by processes and cultures that deeply integrated the voice of the customer and quality into procedures and mindsets. Methodologies that included for example, 4-M, Lean, Total Quality, and Six Sigma revolutionized what had been stagnated U.S. models, processes, and most importantly, mindsets.

From the early 1970s into the 1990s, the U.S. auto industry struggled to overcome paradigms that inhibited progress and the ability or willingness to change. The inflection point that should have been recognized years earlier was either denied or ignored. What ultimately became painfully obvious were two alternatives: change or die. Not only was change essential, but the change had to occur more precisely and rapidly than ever before, as procrastinators realized the accelerated erosion of their markets.