In this section:

Board of Trustees

Texas Health’s Board of Trustees voluntarily gives their knowledge, experience, expertise and time to serve our system. Together, board members establish goals, make strategic policies and decisions, and oversee organizational performance and accountability.

Elected every three years, the diverse group includes independent healthcare, business and community leaders who offer a range of professional competencies. Ex-officio members include:

• Chair, Physician Leadership Council
• Bishop, Central Texas Conference of the United Methodist Church or nominee by the bishop
• General presbyter, Grace Presbytery of the Presbyterian Church or nominee by the general presbyter
• Texas Health CEO

Periodically, board members:

• Assess their performance and gauge the quality of board/leader relationships, communications, orientation and education.
• Review our Board Leadership Plan, which serves as a roadmap for system and hospital board membership continuity, recruitment, growth and development.
• Oversee Texas Health’s succession planning process for the CEO, executives and senior leaders.

Committees

• Audit and Compliance Committee
• Finance Committee
• Governance Committee
• Quality and Performance Committee
• Strategy Committee

Leaders

Texas Health’s leaders bring tremendous clinical, business and operational expertise to our organization. They have various perspectives and competencies, possess an unwavering commitment to excellence, embed uncompromising values, aspirations and expectations throughout the system, and consistently evaluate and communicate our performance.

Our executive management team is responsible for operational strategy and performance, leading our transformation into a fully integrated health system and improving financial and organizational sustainability. In addition to these leaders, our:

• Physician Leadership Council engages physician leaders to provide high-level strategic input and involvement in the system.
• Physician Policy Council approves systemwide clinical policies, including those covering the continuum of care.

2022 Highlights

• Modern Healthcare recognized Texas Health CEO Barclay E. Berdan, FACHE, as one of the 100 Most Influential People in Healthcare.

Ethics and Compliance

Texas Health’s integrity and business practices are foundational to earning and maintaining the trust of our communities. The way we conduct ourselves and our operations demonstrate our core Values of Respect, Integrity, Compassion and Excellence. We expect every Texas Health employee to work ethically and comply with applicable laws and regulations.

To reinforce responsible business practices, we:

• Implement our Business Ethics and Compliance and Privacy Program, which includes a comprehensive strategy of policies, personnel and resources designed to help employees and vendors adhere to our Code of Business Ethics, compliance policies, laws and regulations. Our Business Ethics Council reviews and periodically updates the business ethics standards contained in the Code.
• Require employees to participate in onboarding and annual training to reinforce our standards, procedures and expectations and certify their compliance with key policies and the Code of Business Ethics.
• Establish internal avenues for reporting concerns or asking questions. We operate an external, 24/7 ethics and compliance hotline and web portal to allow employees and vendors to anonymously report concerns or ask questions they are uncomfortable reporting through other established processes.
• Institute a non-retaliation policy prohibiting retaliation against individuals who report issues, concerns or violations in good faith.
• Maintain a Human Research Protections Program to ensure that the rights and welfare of human research participants are adequately protected and that such research complies with applicable laws and Texas Health institutional policies.

Our Compliance Department performs periodic risk assessments to identify areas vulnerable to error and non-compliance or impacted by service changes, market conditions and regulations. The team then develops a work plan to address identified and prioritized risks.

Throughout the year, compliance leaders report to the board’s Audit and Compliance Committee regarding compliance program activities, identified risk areas and efforts to reduce vulnerability, privacy breaches, fraud, waste and abuse. If an unethical or noncompliance issue is detected, Texas Health takes reasonable steps to respond, remediate and prevent further noncompliance.

2022 Highlights

Texas Health:

• Revised our compliance training program to accommodate changes caused by the pandemic, within our workforce and workplace. We also continued to equip employees on how to meet regulatory requirements.
• Worked with operational areas to make it less burdensome for consumers to access their records and data promptly.
• Continued to build upon our “speak up” and “questioning” culture to encourage managers to support environments that allow employees to ask questions or express concerns until an issue is addressed. We want staff to feel more comfortable and confident in sharing uncertainties or proposing recommendations for improvement.