The Board of Visitors Health System Board Quality Subcommittee met Thursday morning in the U.Va. Health Education Resource Center to hear a regulatory report from JoAnna Monroe, U.Va. Health director of accreditation and regulatory standards. Monroe noted high rankings for the University Medical Center and the recertification of two health programs from the Joint Commission.
The Joint Commission is a non-profit, independent organization that evaluates and accredits healthcare bodies and programs across the United States.
The HSB Quality Subcommittee is tasked with “providing strategic oversight” for the improvement of the U.Va. Health system. Seven members make up the Subcommittee, with David O. Okonkwo, professor of neurological surgery at the University of Pittsburgh, serving as the Subcommittee’s chair and the HSB chair.
According to the meeting minutes, all members were present Thursday. Present in the meeting room were Okonkwo, Katherine Hamilton, talent acquisition specialist for GoHealth Urgent Care, Todd Hochrein, chief financial officer of CareTaker Medical LLC and Mitch Rosner, U.Va. Health chief executive officer and executive vice president for health affairs. Kenneth Botsford, co-founder and chief medical officer of NaviHealth — a post-acute care management company — Michelle Strider, chief nursing officer of U.Va. Community Health and Board member Constance Kincheloe participated via Zoom.
Thursday’s meeting occurred both in open and closed sessions, though the livestream link did not work properly for open session.
During Thursday’s opening remarks, Rosner thanked Kincheloe for her service to the Board as she rotates out of her position as a Board member, though it is unclear when her term will officially end.
Monroe presented the U.Va. Health regulatory report during Thursday’s open session, which lasted 12 minutes. Her report highlighted that the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services authorized the U.Va. Health pediatric heart transplant program as an independent program, participating in Medicare and Medicaid. This means the Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease and primary heart failure programs are now authorized by the government to treat beneficiaries of Medicare and Medicaid.
Further, U.Va. Health received recertification from the Joint Commission for COPD and primary heart failure programs, according to the meeting minutes. The U.Va. Health website explains that COPD is the third-leading cause of death in the U.S. and that U.Va. Health is “one of the few medical centers in central Virginia to offer a specialized clinic for the management of COPD.” Recertification from the Joint Commission indicates the programs have met “rigorous” standards and lead to positive clinical outcomes.
Finally, Monroe shared that the U.Va. Medical Center was named number one in the Commonwealth on Newsweek’s World’s Best Hospitals 2026 list. U.Va. Health was also named to Forbes' list of America’s best large employers and 11th among all Virginia-based companies.
The U.Va. Health Children’s Hospital was honored as a Pediatric Sedation Center of Excellence, and the Pediatric Intensive Care Unit earned a Silver Beacon Award for Excellence — a national award presented by the American Association of Critical-Care Nurses to individual hospital units for “commitment to excellence.”
The Subcommittee moved into closed session at 8:12 a.m. to discuss “confidential and proprietary information pertaining to the operations of the University of Virginia Medical Center,” according to both the meeting minutes and agenda. Both documents also state that the disclosure of the closed session’s discussion would affect the competitive position of the Medical Center.
Moving back into open session at 11:05 a.m., the Subcommittee confirmed the matters discussed during closed session were lawfully exempt from open session and adjourned the meeting at 11:06 a.m.
The HSB Quality Subcommittee meets quarterly, or as “deemed necessary” by the Subcommittee’s chair.
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