February 1991
March 1995 (revised)
November 2000 (revised)
November 2005 (revised)
November 2006 (revised)

Statement of the Issue

The American College of Healthcare Executives recognizes that impairment, defined broadly to include alcoholism, substance abuse, chemical dependency, mental/emotional instability or cognitive impairment, is a significant problem that crosses all societal boundaries.

Impairment occurs when the healthcare executive is unable to perform professional duties as expected. Impaired healthcare executives affect not only themselves and their families, but they also have a significant impact on their profession; their professional society; their organizations, colleagues, patients, clients and others served; their communities; and society as a whole. Impairment typically leads to misconduct in the form of incompetence and unsafe or unprofessional behavior, which also can lead to substantial costs associated with loss of productivity and errors in judgment.

The impaired healthcare executive can damage the public image of his or her organization of employment. Public confidence in the organization diminishes if it appears that the organization is not being managed with consistently high standards of professional and ethical practice. This lack of public confidence may cause the community to deem the organization unworthy of its support.

Society expects healthcare executives to practice the standards of good health that they advocate for the public. Impaired healthcare executives diminish the credibility of the profession and its ability to manage society’s healthcare when they are not appropriately managing their own personal health.

Policy Position

The preamble of the American College of Healthcare Executives Code of Ethics states, “Healthcare executives have an obligation to act in ways that will merit the trust, confidence and respect of healthcare professionals and the general public. To do this, healthcare executives must lead lives that embody an exemplary system of values and ethics.”

The American College of Healthcare Executives believes that all healthcare executives have an ethical and a professional obligation to:

• Maintain a personal health that is free from impairment.

• Refrain from all professional activities if impaired.

• Expeditiously seek treatment if impairment occurs.

• Urge impaired colleagues to expeditiously seek treatment and to refrain from all professional activities while impaired.

• Assist recovered colleagues when they resume their professional activities.

• Intervene and report the impairment to the appropriate person(s) should the colleague refuse to seek professional assistance and should the state of impairment persist.

• Support peers who identify healthcare executives in need of help.

• Recognize that individuals who have successfully received treatment for impairment and are no longer deemed impaired should be considered for employment opportunities for which they are qualified.

• Recommend or provide, within one’s employing organization, confidential avenues for reporting impairment and either access or referral to treatment or assistance programs.

• Urge the community to provide information and resources for assistance and treatment of alcoholism, substance abuse, mental/emotional instability and cognitive impairment as needed and as appropriate.

• Raise the awareness of key stakeholders (such as employees, governing board members, etc.) on impairment issues and the resources available for assistance.

Approved by the Board of Governors of the American College of Healthcare Executives on November 6, 2006.