by Wendy Johnson
Publisher, FierceHealthcare

When Tony Chen, a former director of new business development for Illinois-based North Shore University Health System, launched this blog in 2005, he wanted to provide a space where current and emerging hospital leaders could share their views on how to best answer this "simple" question: What will it take for hospitals to be the best run organizations on the face of the planet?

We've heard lots of interesting ideas since then. Some were a bit Mickey Mouse, others focused on nothing short of a complete turnaround. The common thread throughout: Hospital Impact has been your water cooler--your place to sound off, share ideas learn from each other. That's still true today.

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Although Tony recently "retired" from blogging here at Impact, we'll continue to ensure that Hospital Impact remains your source of opinions and information, written by hospital leaders, for hospital leaders.

I'm excited to be the next captain of this ship--and to have become FierceHealthcare's first full-time, dedicated publisher. With nearly two decades as a news reporter under my belt--mostly writing about the business, quality, regulatory and compliance issues in healthcare--I'm excited to use my contacts to bring new voices to Impact--like the California hospital that'll use its parking garage to stage drive-thru triages during swine flu surges this season, and the operations director who saved his hospital more than a million bucks in utility and equipment costs by making simple changes that cost little or no money.

These small innovations helped bring those hospitals one step closer to becoming the best-run companies on the planet. Of course, there are so many more miles to go. But even a small step forward is one step closer to the goal.

So what do you think: What will it take to for your organization--or any hospital, for that matter--to become the best-run hospital on the planet? If you'd like to share your own views in a blog post, let me know by emailing me at wjohnson@fiercemarkets.com. Otherwise, go ahead and hit that "comment" link and share your wisdom with the world. That's why we're all here, after all.