The Board of Commissioners is The Joint Commission’s governing body, providing policy leadership and oversight. Board members govern The Joint Commission with a dedication to its mission to continuously improve health care for the public, in collaboration with other stakeholders, by evaluating health care organizations and inspiring them to excel in providing safe and effective care of the highest quality and value. The full board meets three times a year, with an additional retreat focused on The Joint Commission’s strategic direction.
Board members have diverse experience in health care, business, and public policy. The board consists of 29 voting members, including physicians, administrators, nurses, employers, a labor representative, health plan leaders, quality experts, ethicists, a consumer advocate and educators. Commissioners serve three-year terms that are renewable for up to three terms.
Many board members have clinical experience in the health care fields that The Joint Commission serves, including ambulatory care, behavioral health care, home care, hospitals, laboratories and long term care. In addition, advice from experts in these fields is routinely obtained. Three representatives of the home care, behavioral health care, and long term care fields participate in Board of Commissioners meetings in a non-voting capacity. These direct links to the current health care environment enable board members to guide The Joint Commission in developing state-of-the-art evaluation services.
Board committees and other activities
There are seven standing board committees: Executive, Accreditation, Performance Measurement, Standards and Survey Procedures, Finance and Audit, Human Resources and Compensation, and Governance. Other board committees and task forces in existence in 2010 include the Board Appeal Review Committee and a Strategic Issues Work Group on Achieving High Reliability in Health Care.
Six members of the Board of Commissioners also serve on the Board of Directors of Joint Commission Resources, Inc., a not-for-profit affiliate of The Joint Commission that provides national and international consulting for the health care community in addition to worldwide accreditation services. The JCR board also includes nine external representatives.
Board members also serve on or are liaisons to a number of other Joint Commission groups including: Professional and Technical Advisory Committees, the Nursing Advisory Council, the Hospital Advisory Group, the Surveyor Advisory Committee, and the Patient and Family Advisory Council.
2010 Board of Commissioners
Chair
David A. Whiston, D.D.S.
Oral and Maxillofacial Surgeon
Falls Church, Va.
Vice chair
Isabel V. Hoverman, M.D., MACP
Internist
Austin Internal Medicine Associates, LLP
Austin, Texas
Nancy Howell Agee
Chief Operating Officer and Executive Vice President
Carilion Health System/Carilion Clinic
Roanoke, Va.
David L. Bronson, M.D., FACP
Chairman
The Cleveland Clinic Foundation Medicine Institute
Cleveland, Ohio
Charles R. Buck, Jr., Sc.D
Consultant
Naples, Fla.
Alexander M. Capron
University Professor
Scott H. Bice Chair in Healthcare Law, Policy and Ethics
Professor of Law and Medicine
Co-Director, Pacific Center for Health Policy and Ethics
University of Southern California Gould School of Law
Los Angeles, Calif.
Mark R. Chassin, M.D., M.P.P., M.P.H.
President
The Joint Commission
Oakbrook Terrace, Ill.
Marilyn P. Chow, R.N., D.N.Sc., FAAN
Vice President, National Patient Care Services
Kaiser Permanente
Oakland, Calif.
Benjamin Chu, M.D., M.P.H., MACP
President, Southern California Region
Kaiser Foundation Health Plan and Hospitals
Pasadena, Calif.
Ilene Corina
President
PULSE of New York, Inc.
Wantagh, N.Y.
T. Anthony Denton, J.D., M.H.A.
Senior Associate Director and Chief Operating Officer
University of Michigan Hospitals and Health Centers
Ann Arbor, Mich.
Joseph T. English, M.D.
System Chairman
Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences
St. Vincent Catholic Medical Centers of New York
Sidney E. Frank Professor, Chairman and Associate Dean
New York Medical College
New York, N.Y.
Joseph M. Heyman, M.D.
Gynecologist
Amesbury Health Center
Amesbury, Mass.
M. Nicole Jamali, M.D.
Internist and Hospitalist
Aliso Viejo, Calif.
Craig W. Jones, FACHE
President
Oklahoma Hospital Association
Oklahoma City, Okla.
Edward L. Langston, M.D., R.Ph.
Family Physician
American Health Network
Indianapolis, Ind.
Eric B. Larson, M.D., M.P.H., MACP
Executive Director, Center for Health Studies
Group Health Cooperative
Seattle, Wash.
Mary Anne McCaffree, M.D.
Professor of Pediatrics
University of Oklahoma Health Sciences Center
Oklahoma City, Okla.
LaMar S. McGinnis, Jr., M.D., FACS
Senior Medical Advisor and Liaison
American Cancer Society
Atlanta, Ga.
Mary H. McGrath, M.D., M.P.H.
Professor of Surgery
Division of Plastic and Reconstructive Surgery
University of California, San Francisco
San Francisco, Calif.
Ralph W. Muller
Chief Executive Officer
University of Pennsylvania Health System
Philadelphia, Pa.
Kurt D. Newman, M.D., FACS
Surgeon-in-Chief and Senior Vice President
Children’s National Medical Center and Joseph E. Robert, Jr. Center for Surgical Care
Professor of Surgery and Pediatrics
George Washington University School of Medicine
Washington, D.C.
Rebecca J. Patchin, M.D.
Physician and Surgeon
Riverside, Calif.
Jonathan B. Perlin, M.D., Ph.D., M.S.H.A., FACP, FACMI
Chief Medical Officer and President, Clinical Services
HCA/Hospital Corporation of America
Nashville, Tenn.
Christopher J. Queram
President and Chief Executive Officer
Wisconsin Collaborative for Healthcare Quality
Madison, Wis.
R. Timothy Rice, FACHE
President and Chief Executive Officer
Moses Cone Health System
Greensboro, N.C.
Gerald M. Shea
Assistant to the President for External Affairs
American Federation of Labor and Congress of
Industrial Organizations (AFL-CIO)
Washington, D.C.
J.B. Silvers, Ph.D.
Elizabeth and William Treuhaft Professor of Health Systems Management
Professor of Banking and Finance
Weatherhead School of Management
Professor of Epidemiology and Biostatistics
School of Medicine
Case Western Reserve University
Cleveland, Ohio
Josie R. Williams, M.D., M.M.M.
Co-Director, Rural and Community Health Institute
Associate Professor, Internal Medicine and Family Medicine
Texas A&M University System Health Science Center
Bryan, Texas
Michael F. Hogan, Ph.D.
Behavioral Health Care Representative (non-voting)
Commissioner
New York State Office of Mental Health
Albany, New York
Connie S. March
Long Term Care Representative (non-voting)
President and Chief Executive Officer
Provena Senior Services
Mokena, Ill.
Kristy Wright, R.N., M.B.A., FAAN
Home Care Representative (non-voting)
President and CEO
VNA Services and Foundation, Western Pennsylvania
Butler, Pa.