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About NJHA & N.J. Hospitals
Policy DevelopmentOverview
NJHA Policy Development Committee (PDC)
Purpose
The concept was proposed to enable NJHA to improve performance
and coordination of the existing policy development process in several key
areas: (1) more timely and accurate identification of issues; (2) increased
involvement of the membership in policy matters, both in identifying issues and
influencing positions to be taken; (3) increased presentation of state concerns
at the federal level; (4) better utilization of Board responsibilities and
resources in the development of policy; and (5) improved efficiency in
allocation of staff resources.
Charge
The Board of Trustees is the sole body within NJHA that has
authority and responsibility for establishing policy for NJHA. To assist it in
accomplishing policy responsibilities, the Board has appointed a Policy
Development Committee and charged it to monitor, in an ongoing fashion, the
policy development process within NJHA and to make recommendations to the Board
for modifications and refinements within that process as may be indicated; to
establish and implement a system for identification of those issues
advantageous to NJHA and its members at the federal and state levels so that
the Association can express its collective opinion through a policy, statement
or position; to identify and establish a priority for those issues which should
be investigated or considered in depth and to recommend to the Board the
appointment of appropriate task forces, including a recommended charge,
membership and time frame for each; and to monitor the performance of each task
force appointed and ensure that the charge has been fulfilled.
Membership
The Policy Development Committee will be appointed by the Board
of Trustees and consist of a minimum of 20 individuals. The majority will be
representatives of member institutions. A member of NJHA's Board of Trustees'
Executive Committee will be the Chair of the Policy Development Committee.
Appointments will be for one-year terms, though it is anticipated that
committee membership will rotate by approximately one-third each year. There
will be two ex officio members, the NJHA president and vice president of Policy
Development. The General Counsel will serve as staff coordinator and be
responsible for monitoring appropriate membership involvement throughout the
entire process. She/he will also coordinate necessary staff resources.
Committee Operation
The Policy Development Committee will meet so that the NJHA
Board can act in a timely fashion on policy related matters. Whenever possible,
the Policy Development Committee meetings will be scheduled in advance of the
AHA Regional Policy Board 2 meetings to permit New Jersey delegates to attend
those sessions knowing NJHA positions on items to be considered.
The Policy Development Committee will monitor task force activity by receiving
progress reports on an ongoing basis. Final task force recommendations will be
considered and voted on by the Policy Development Committee. Any modifications
made by the Policy Development Committee will be reported separately to the
Board as an alternate recommendation for its consideration. The Policy
Development Committee cannot overrule or modify a recommendation made by a task
force.
At its meetings the Policy Development Committee will consider issue
transmittals received, prepare a complete list of those items of concern to
NJHA membership, identify task forces that should be appointed to explore
issues in depth, receive and review reports from task forces and prepare
recommendations to be transmitted to the Board.
When the Policy Development Committee determines that a given
issue requires an in-depth investigation before a policy or position can be
established, it will recommend to the Board that such a body be appointed.
Because the Board must establish the ultimate priority of NJHA policy
initiatives and because the appointment of a task force could make demands on
NJHA resources, it is appropriate that task forces actually be appointed by the
Board instead of by the Policy Development Committee.
The membership of a task force may vary according to the nature of the issue to
be considered. Some may need to be representative of the entire membership;
others may only focus on a given constituency, size, or type of institution. In
certain instances, a staff resource may be assigned to assist in deliberations;
in others, members of the task force may be requested to perform their
assignment on their own without direct staff coordination. In all instances,
the vice president of Policy Development will serve as coordinator and point of
contact. The task force chairperson will be responsible for seeing that the
assignment is completed appropriately and in a timely fashion.
Exceptions Process
There may be a rare occasion in which NJHA may need to respond
to a situation with an association policy, position or statement when time
would not permit following the policy development process outlined. In those
instances, the Board, acting through the Executive Committee, will be informed
and called upon to exercise its authority in the development of policy. That
occasion will be viewed as an exceptions process and handled on a case by case
basis, as the situation may warrant. As soon as practical, action taken by the
Board will be reported back to the Policy Development Committee so that it can
fulfill its monitoring responsibilities.
The exceptions process is concerned with policy, positions and statements. It is
distinguished from tactics or strategy involved in lobbying and negotiating by
staff. Within the bounds of the approved policy, staff will be permitted
flexibility in achieving the appropriate outcome of an NJHA policy.
There may be occasions in which a given constituency group of
NJHA wants to meet on an ongoing basis to discuss issues of particular interest
to that group. For example, constituency groups might be comprised of a
particular profession, such as a medical administrators group, or a type of
institution, such as rehabilitation hospitals. The Policy Development Committee
will consider issue transmittals received from constituency groups and, if
necessary, will recommend the formation of a task force to explore an issue in
more depth. Upon a particular constituency group's recommendation, an issue
transmittal reported at the Policy Development Committee shall also be brought
before the NJHA Board of Trustees for its review and consideration.
Conclusion
It is imperative to establish with no misunderstanding that it
is the Board of Trustees alone which has the authority and responsibility to
establish policy for NJHA. To permit the Board adequate time to consider policy
and its ramifications, it has created the Policy Development Committee to
coordinate the policy development process. Although the Policy Development
Committee is not charged with establishing or recommending policy in its own
right, it is, nevertheless, an extremely influential body in identifying which
policy matters are to be addressed, in recommending a priority and time table
for each, and in recommending the membership task forces to develop proposed
policy positions.
Implemented as conceived, the policy development process outlined will achieve
an improved system for development of policy by NJHA, involve greater numbers
of the membership and create an effective advocacy and representation function
by NJHA on behalf of its member hospitals.
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