Powell Valley Healthcare Strategic Planning Retreat
May 26, 2026 (5:30–8:30 PM) · May 27, 2026 (8:00 AM–4:30 PM)
Evening Session
Tuesday, May 26, 2026
5:30 PM – 8:30 PM
Welcome dinner · Govern Well guest speaker · CEO environmental scan
Full-Day Session
Wednesday, May 27, 2026
8:00 AM – 4:30 PM
SWOT · Pillar identification · Goal setting · Action planning
Pre-Retreat Preparation Checklist
Distribute Briefing Packet two weeks prior (environmental scan summary, financial highlights, CHNA key findings, synthesized survey results)
Confirm off-site or dedicated boardroom venue with A/V equipment, flip charts, and markers
Prepare sticky notes and markers for SWOT and pillar exercises
Draft and distribute ground rules slide (e.g., 'Assume positive intent,' 'Step up, step back')
Confirm attendance: Board Chair, all trustees, CEO, senior leadership, and key physician leaders
Arrange catering — good food and planned breaks contribute meaningfully to retreat success
Send calendar invites for May 26 (5:30–8:30 PM) and May 27 (8:00 AM–4:30 PM) to all participants
Coordinate with Govern Well speaker to confirm A/V needs and presentation materials for Night One
Environmental Scan: Topics & Data Sources
The following six topic areas should be included in the Board briefing packet distributed two weeks before the retreat. Each area includes recommended data sources for compiling current, credible information relevant to Powell Valley Healthcare's strategic context.
Hospital & Health System Landscape
Trends in U.S. hospitals and health systems, including CAH-specific capacity, evolving care delivery settings, and quality improvement progress.
Financial Landscape
National economic trends, hospital financial pressures, Medicare reimbursement updates, and consumer affordability challenges affecting rural providers.
Workforce
Turnover and vacancy rates, nursing and provider shortages, well-being, and employment growth projections for rural healthcare settings.
Innovation & Technology
Artificial intelligence trends in rural health, remote patient monitoring, telehealth expansion, and the digital health market.
U.S. Demographic Shifts & Community Health
Population changes, aging trends, social determinants of health, and their impact on Powell Valley Healthcare's service area and patient mix.
Regulatory & Policy Environment
Federal and state policy changes affecting CAH designation, value-based care programs, 340B, No Surprises Act, and Medicaid expansion.
Tuesday, May 26, 2026 — Evening Session
5:30 PM – 8:30 PM · Welcome Dinner, Govern Well Speaker & CEO Environmental Scan
Welcome Reception & Dinner
Build rapport among board members, leadership, and providers in an informal setting before the structured work begins.
Informal reception and dinner. Name tags, seating arranged to mix board and clinical staff.
Board Chair offers a brief welcome and frames the importance of the next two days for Powell Valley Healthcare's future.
Facilitator Tip: Use this time to circulate and gauge the energy and any pre-existing tensions in the room. This informs your facilitation approach for the evening session.
Guest Speaker: State of the Union — Govern Well
Provide the Board with an expert, independent perspective on the current state of rural healthcare governance, national trends, and the strategic imperatives facing Critical Access Hospitals in 2026.
CEO introduces the Govern Well speaker and frames the purpose: to ground the Board's strategic thinking in the national rural healthcare landscape before the retreat work begins.
Govern Well presentation: State of the Union for Rural Healthcare Governance — covering national CAH trends, governance best practices, financial pressures, workforce challenges, and the evolving regulatory environment.
Open Q&A: Board members and leadership ask clarifying questions. Facilitator captures key themes on a flip chart for reference during the Day 2 SWOT analysis.
Facilitator Tip: Encourage the Board to listen for themes that connect to Powell Valley Healthcare's specific context. Ask participants to note 1–2 insights they want to carry into tomorrow's SWOT discussion.
CEO Environmental Scan Presentation & Discussion
Align the full group on Powell Valley Healthcare's current state and the key local data inputs that will anchor the strategic plan.
CEO presents key findings from the pre-retreat briefing packet: financial health summary, quality metrics, workforce snapshot, and synthesized themes from all stakeholder surveys.
Open floor for clarifying questions on the data presented. No solutions yet — only questions and shared understanding.
Small group exercise: Each table identifies the single most important insight from the combined Govern Well presentation and CEO data review, then shares with the room.
Facilitator Tip: Resist the urge to solve problems in this session. The goal is shared understanding, not premature consensus. Capture all themes on a visible flip chart — they will feed directly into the Day 2 SWOT analysis.
Evening Wrap-Up & Preview
Close the evening session with energy and clear expectations for the full-day session on May 27.
Facilitator summarizes key themes surfaced during the evening and previews the May 27 agenda.
Reflection round: Each participant shares one word that describes their feeling about Powell Valley Healthcare's future.
Board Chair closing remarks. Informal networking encouraged to continue.
Facilitator Tip: End on an optimistic, forward-looking note. The evening should build anticipation for the deeper work on Day 2.
Wednesday, May 27, 2026 — Full-Day Session
8:00 AM – 4:30 PM · SWOT Analysis, Pillar Identification, Goal Setting & Action Planning
Morning Welcome & Recap
Re-energize participants and reconnect to the key themes from the May 26 evening session.
Continental breakfast available. Informal networking.
Facilitator recaps the key themes from the Govern Well presentation and CEO environmental scan from the previous evening.
Review the full May 27 agenda and confirm ground rules for the day.
Facilitator Tip: Keep the recap concise — no more than 10 minutes. Participants need to feel momentum, not repetition.
Collaborative SWOT Analysis
Identify internal strengths and weaknesses, and external opportunities and threats across four organizational domains.
Divide into 3–4 mixed breakout groups (board + executives + providers in each). Assign each group a domain: Clinical Quality, Financial/Operations, Community/Brand, or Workforce/Culture.
Groups identify top 3 items for each SWOT quadrant within their domain using sticky notes on flip charts.
Each group presents findings (5 min each). Facilitator groups similar themes on a master SWOT board visible to all.
Whole-group discussion to validate and refine the synthesized SWOT. Identify cross-cutting themes.
Facilitator Tip: Ensure each group has a mix of board members, executives, and clinical staff. Homogeneous groups produce narrower insights.
Break
Scheduled break.
Refreshment break. Facilitator clusters the SWOT sticky notes into emerging themes on the master board before participants return.
Facilitator Tip: Use break time to quickly organize the SWOT themes into 5–7 visible clusters. This sets up the pillar identification exercise that follows.
Strategic Pillar Identification
Translate the SWOT analysis into 4–5 core strategic focus areas that will anchor Powell Valley Healthcare's plan through facilitated group consensus.
Facilitator introduces the 12-pillar selection menu (see Toolkit page) and highlights Powell Valley Healthcare's current five pillars: Service, Quality, People, Finance, and Growth. The group evaluates whether these remain the right organizing structure.
Facilitated discussion: The group reviews the clustered SWOT themes and identifies which clusters represent the most critical strategic focus areas. Facilitator guides the conversation to surface natural groupings and build shared understanding.
Consensus-building: Facilitator proposes 4–5 draft pillar titles based on the discussion. The group refines the language to ensure alignment with Powell Valley Healthcare's mission, vision, and values.
Confirm the 4–5 pillars with the full group. These become the organizing structure for the afternoon action planning.
Facilitator Tip: Pillars should be broad enough to encompass multiple initiatives but specific enough to guide resource allocation. Avoid generic labels like 'Excellence.' Use the group's own language from the SWOT discussion wherever possible — it builds ownership.
Working Lunch
Sustain energy while allowing informal pillar discussions to continue.
Lunch served. Facilitator posts the confirmed pillars prominently in the room.
Optional: brief table discussions — 'What does success look like for this pillar in 3 years?'
Facilitator Tip: Seat participants with their pillar workgroup colleagues to allow natural goal-setting conversations to begin informally.
SMART Goal Setting within Pillars
Develop specific, measurable, achievable, relevant, and time-bound goals for each strategic pillar.
Participants self-select into pillar workgroups (2–3 per pillar). Each group drafts 2–3 SMART goals for their pillar.
Cross-pollination: workgroups rotate to review and provide written feedback on goals drafted by other groups.
Groups return to refine their goals based on peer feedback.
SMART Reminder: Instead of 'Improve retention,' use 'Reduce first-year nursing turnover by 15% by December 2027 through implementation of a structured residency program.'
Break
Scheduled break.
Afternoon break. Groups finalize their draft SMART goals on flip charts.
Facilitator Tip: Circulate during the break to preview each group's goals and flag any that may need refinement before the full-group share-out.
Action Planning & Executive Accountability
Assign executive ownership and establish a preliminary implementation timeline for each strategic pillar.
Each pillar group presents their 2–3 SMART goals to the full room (5 min per group).
For each goal, the group identifies 1–2 key initiatives required to achieve it. Focus on the 'what,' not the 'how.'
Executive Sponsorship: Assign a Leadership Team member as executive sponsor for each pillar. This ensures operational accountability.
Board Role Discussion: Agree on format and frequency of strategic updates (recommended: concise 3–5 bullet CEO report at quarterly board meetings).
Facilitator Tip: Executive sponsors are accountable for progress, not necessarily for doing the work themselves. Clarify this distinction explicitly with the group.
Closing & Next Steps
Finalize the retreat and outline the path from retreat outputs to the formal strategic plan document.
CEO outlines the timeline: Leadership Team will draft the formal strategic plan document within 30 days, to be presented to the Board for approval at the next regular meeting.
Reflection round: Each participant shares one commitment they are taking back to their role.
Board Chair provides closing remarks, thanking all participants for their engagement and commitment to Powell Valley Healthcare.
Group photo and informal reception (optional but recommended for relationship-building).
Post-Retreat: Send a written summary of all outputs (pillars, draft goals, sponsors) to all participants within 48 hours while the energy is still fresh.