January 30 - February 2, 2011 | Phoenix, AZ

As the health care delivery system evolves, rural leaders are challenged to understand where they will fit in a new world of accountable care, bundled payments, and heightened demands for physician integration. And while the implementation picture will take time to roll out, what's clear is that rural hospitals will be more challenged than ever to compete on high quality and low cost. Numerous examples suggest they are already working to drive out inefficiencies, improve transparency, and boost staff engagement in quality and safety activities. Governing boards, understanding that their roles and oversight responsibilities are transitioning, are gaining new knowledge and skills. Positive change is happening in rural hospitals and their communities.

The 2011 Rural Health Care Leadership Conference brings together top thinkers in the field, and offers you proven strategies for accelerating performance excellence and improving the sustainability of your rural hospital in the post-reform environment.

We'll take a look at the many difficult operational, financial and environmental challenges you face and present new models and emerging initiatives that are transforming care delivery and business practices in rural settings. You'll hear fresh approaches for attracting top physician talent and aligning physician and hospital interests. We'll also examine the connection between healthy organizational cultures, high performance, and employee engagement. You'll come away with new ideas for developing rewarding practice environments—the kind of environments that yield improved patient care, quality and safety, and service excellence. Executive leadership and trustees will enhance their capacity to make the right strategic decisions and inspire organizational excellence.

Plan to arrive early to enjoy Phoenix and join us on Sunday afternoon to dive deeper into individual and organizational performance improvement topics through two pre-conference workshop options. Both workshops afford numerous opportunities for interaction between participants and our faculty, and they will add great value to your conference experience.

The Rural Health Care Leadership Conference brings a unique focus on innovative ideas, thoughtful insights, and proven strategies for improving rural hospitals and developing rural health care leaders.

Benefits of Attending

• Analyze the impact of national health care reform on rural hospitals and their communities.
• Achieve peak performance in an environment where constrained resources are generating new imperatives for greater collaboration and care coordination.
• Transform the organizational culture for a sustained competitive advantage, improved medical staff recruitment, and enhanced employee engagement.
• Gain insights into the drivers influencing changes in hospital/physician relations and recognize the critical success factors in emerging models of alignment.
• Respond to new demands on governing boards for greater accountability and more informed leadership.
• Leverage information technology to improve clinical quality, access to care, and business performance in the rural environment.

Who should attend:

• Rural Hospital CEOs, Administrators and System Executives
• Board Members
• Nursing and Physician Executives
• Public Health and Community Leaders
• Executives of Rural Health Care Associations, Networks and Clinics