%20(1).png)
Beyond the Risk Matrix: Communicating Risk and Influencing Executive Decision-Making in Healthcare
Healthcare organizations devote significant resources to hazard vulnerability analyses (HVAs), enterprise risk assessments, cybersecurity evaluations, continuity planning efforts, and regulatory preparedness requirements. Yet despite increasingly sophisticated assessment methodologies, many healthcare organizations continue to struggle with a fundamental challenge: translating risk information into executive action. Too often, preparedness professionals focus on identifying hazards, assigning likelihood scores, and producing risk matrices, while organizational leaders are focused on a different question altogether: What are the consequences to patient care, operations, finances, workforce, and reputation if this event occurs? This session explores how healthcare preparedness leaders can move beyond traditional risk assessment approaches and adopt consequence-based risk communication strategies that resonate with executive decision-makers. Participants will examine the limitations of probability-driven risk models, particularly when addressing low-frequency, high-consequence events such as cyberattacks, utility disruptions, supply chain failures, workplace violence, pandemics, and other complex healthcare emergencies. Using real-world healthcare examples, participants will learn practical methods for evaluating cascading consequences, identifying organizational vulnerabilities, and framing risk discussions in terms of strategic priorities and operational impacts. The session will also introduce techniques for building compelling business cases for mitigation investments and resilience initiatives by translating technical risks into language that supports informed executive decision-making. Attendees will leave with actionable tools and communication frameworks that can be immediately applied to risk assessments, executive briefings, preparedness programs, continuity initiatives, and organizational resilience efforts across healthcare settings.
Roger Glick, MS, MBA, CEM, FACHE
Market Director - Healthcare + Emergency Management
Jensen Hughes
Roger Glick is a resilience, emergency management, and crisis leadership consultant who helps organizations prepare for—and perform through—complex, high-consequence disruption. With more than 20 years of experience spanning healthcare operations, emergency management, consulting, research, and executive leadership, his work focuses on strengthening the systems, decisions, and organizational capabilities that determine how effectively organizations withstand disruption and adapt to change.
Roger brings a systems-thinking and engineering-oriented approach to resilience. He examines how people, processes, infrastructure, information, technology, leadership, and external dependencies interact as a system, with particular emphasis on consequences, interdependencies, critical points of failure, and decision-making under uncertainty.
Healthcare is a primary focus of his work, including engagements with hospitals, health systems, healthcare coalitions, associations, and public health agencies. His work includes operational resilience, crisis leadership, business continuity, emergency management, evacuation, cyber disruption, surge, exercises, and program assessment.
Roger is a faculty member at the Virginia Tech Carilion School of Medicine and a Fellow of the American College of Healthcare Executives and Certified Emergency Manager. He also serves on the Executive Committee of the National Pediatric Disaster Coalition and regularly contributes to research, publications, and national conferences.