Interview with Thomas C. Dolan, PhD, FACHE, CAE, President and CEO, American College of Healthcare Executives

Abstract

Thomas C. Dolan, PhD, FACHE, CAE, is president and CEO of the American College of Healthcare Executives (ACHE). He previously served as ACHE's executive vice president. Prior to joining ACHE, he held various teaching, research, and administrative positions at Saint Louis University, University of Missouri, University of Washington, and University of Iowa. Dr. Dolan has chaired the American Society of Association Executives (ASAE), Association of University Programs in Health Administration, Association Forum of Chicagoland, Board of Overseers of the Malcolm Baldrige National Quality Award, and Institute for Diversity in Health Management. He has also served as president of the Mental Health Association in Missouri and on the board of trustees of Alexian Brothers Hospital in St. Louis. Dr. Dolan is president of the International Hospital Federation (IHF) and serves on the Association Committee of 100 of the U.S. Chamber of Commerce. Dr. Dolan has been listed on Modern Healthcare magazine's 100 Most Influential People in Healthcare list each year since its inception in 2002. He is a recipient of the Key Award from ASAE and the Samuel D. Shapiro Award from Association Forum. Dr. Dolan is a Fellow of both ACHE and ASAE. He earned his doctoral degree from the University of Iowa and his bachelor's degree from Loyola University Chicago. He was awarded ACHE's 2013 Gold Medal Award in the Nondelivery Healthcare Organizations category. The Cold Medal is ACHE's highest honor bestowed on outstanding leaders. The purpose of this award is to identify Fellows of ACHE who best exemplify leadership at the organizational, local, state/provincial, and national levels. The Gold Medal Award recognizes individuals who go beyond the confines of their own organization to continually contribute to the improvement of healthcare services and community health. Dr. O'Connor: Congratulations on being a recipient of the 2013 Gold Medal Award and on your upcoming retirement! The award is certainly well deserved and truly reflects your many achievements. In your mind, what stand out as the more significant accomplishments that you and ACHE have achieved for the field of healthcare management? Personally, what are you most proud of having accomplished? Dr. Dolan: Over its 80-year history, ACHE has made many significant contributions to our health system. Having the privilege of working here for 27 years has given me the opportunity to have an impact in the areas of diversity and inclusion, ethics, lifelong learning and the FACHE[R] credential, and the ACHE chapters initiative. To date, my greatest contribution has been in the area of diversity and inclusion. When I became CEO in 1991 we weren't asking our members about their ethnicity, but I felt it was important to find that out. Following our initial collection of those data, we conducted a study comparing the career patterns of our members. We found what we expected: that discrimination in career opportunities existed. Since that time we have tried to address this issue within the field. This, I believe, is the greatest contribution I have been involved in. More so than ever, I am a big proponent of the FACHE credential. In the 1970s, 88 percent of our new members had a graduate degree in health administration. Today, less than 50 percent do. A lot of bright people are entering the field out of general business, medicine, nursing, and other disciplines, but they do not have that foundation in health administration. The FACHE credential, while not comparable to a master of health administration degree, at least assists them to be effective healthcare leaders. Furthermore, the number one reason people join ACHE is for the knowledge we impart through our educational programs and publications. This is an organization that is dedicated to lifelong learning. I am also very proud of our chapter initiative. We started chapters nine years ago; today we have 81 chapters, which held nearly 1,000 events in 2012 that were attended by more than 54,000 people. …