Zuber’s Healthcare Enterprise Risk Management Framework and Proposed Standards for Healthcare Governance

Abstract

Purpose: To develop Zuber’s Healthcare Enterprise Risk Management (ZHERM) Framework as a healthcare governance architecture that connects enterprise risk oversight with clinical services, operational controls, patient experience, digital systems, and organizational continuity.

Methodology: Narrative synthesis and interpretive mapping were used to integrate published enterprise risk management, quality, patient safety, resilience, and governance sources. Sixteen operational domains were mapped to ASHRM’s eight risk categories. The resulting architecture specifies governance responsibilities, evidence requirements, and priorities for prospective validation.

Results/Analysis: The framework comprises sixteen operational domains, a provisional ASHRM crosswalk, shared risk and assurance records, and a feedback process connecting assessment, controls, monitoring, and escalation. Comparison with established frameworks clarifies their complementary roles. The outputs are conceptual specifications; organizational effects and measurement properties remain to be evaluated.

Originality/Value: The proposed contribution is an operational decomposition of healthcare enterprise governance into explicit domain responsibilities and evidence requirements while retaining established ERM principles. Its feasibility, reliability, implementation burden, and effects require prospective evaluation.

Type of Paper: Conceptual framework-development paper with a proposed validation protocol.