Corporate restructuring prompts board self-evaluation. Interview by Jane Martinsons.

The Iowa Methodist Medical Center, Des Moines, today is not the same as the medical facility of the early 1980s. Since then, the hospital has been part of a major corporate restructuring. In the mid-1980s, a holding company was formed with the 710-bed medical center as its principal subsidiary. Other not-for-profit and for-profit subsidiaries also were established. An HMO was founded and then later sold. In the midst of this activity stood a large and cumbersome board of directors. So along with efforts to streamline the health system's services, efforts were made to streamline or downsize the hospital board. At the tail end of this busy process, the board thought it time to evaluate its effectiveness. Ralph Schlenker, vice chairman of Iowa Methodist's board of trustees, recently talked with Chicago-based free-lance writer Jane Martinsons about how and why the board sought self-assessment. Schlenker, who before his retirement was vice chairman of Iowa Power Inc., Des Moines, has been a trustee of Iowa Methodist Medical Center for 10 years and vice chairman of the board for the last two.