4 Hot Healthcare Exec Titles; 1 Not

Healthcare hiring trends favor physician leaders with clinical knowledge and an aptitude for strategy, rather than only business school smarts.

Healthcare leadership roles are changing swiftly in response to shifts in payment models and the relentless pace of business consolidation. Executive teams and human resource executives are now carefully designing these roles for maximum strategic and clinical effect.

"For years, leadership said, 'throw another MBA [at the problem]. But that way of thinking doesn't work anymore," says Travis Singleton, senior vice president at Merritt Hawkins & Associates, a healthcare recruitment firm. "Hospitals and healthcare systems are going to need physicians who are active, strategic, and want to take an active role in shaping healthcare delivery systems."

Unlike the healthcare systems of a generation ago, most of these leadership positions aren't just jobs any MBA could hold down; these jobs require a physician with strategic ability and business sense.

"If you don't have 'em, grow 'em," says Singleton. "Take these physicians and make them leaders."

A Homegrown Approach to Physician Leadership

He suggests that HR look into leadership courses or physician MBA programs. "There are programs made for working physicians. You don't have to wait for that shining star to come along. Just take a strategically thinking, strong physician and put them through these courses," he said.

The four toughest healthcare executive jobs recruiters are trying to fill today are expected to be tougher to staff over the next five years. And, perhaps surprisingly, one executive position is seeing its numbers dwindle.

1. Chief Population Health Manager

Chief population health managers are responsible for conducting managed care operations. They direct the strategic direction of population health initiatives, care management, and outcome components.

This job is about to become the hottest position in healthcare, Singleton told me— although health systems are still trying to figure out how to staff this position. "No one knows how to do that yet. We're all struggling to find the right skill set for this role." He says many hospitals have had better luck giving this role to physicians who have spent substantial time working in both hospital and non-hospital settings.

"You need someone who understands how a team health environment is supposed to work—that's the only way you'll get these metrics. How do you get highly efficient as fast as possible? You can't manage that population unless you have a team equipped to do so."

Singleton says this role is most in demand at health systems with large patient panels and a diverse patient population.

2. Chief Clinical Transformation Officer

This role acts as an administrative leader across many change initiatives. CCTOs are responsible for system-wide improvements and innovations, and oftentimes oversee and help with the implementation and design of population health initiatives.

"Getting into the broad scope [of the care continuum] takes a massive amount of clinical transformation and case management," says Singleton, who says it's also complicated to fill. While the person who holds this role should be a physician, healthcare systems should also be looking outside of traditional healthcare settings to find the right candidates.

"This is a broader role in an area where many hospital doctors haven't had experience," he says, adding that this role demands someone with the ability to plan and think strategically. Singleton has seen some success with candidates who come from the medical device industry.

3. Chief Strategy Officer

The buck still stops at the CEO's desk, but increasingly, a healthcare organization's strategic path is being mapped by the chief strategy officer. The accelerated pace of change within the healthcare industry has given rise to the need for strategic thinkers who are not bound or distracted by some of the CEO's other traditional responsibilities.

Candidates for CSO often come from within an organization, because they must fully understand how that particular system functions.

4. Chief Medical Officer
While this title isn't new, the responsibilities that come with it are. "The chief medical officer of today is different from the CMO of five years ago—and definitely different than the CMO of 10 years ago," Singleton says.

CMOs have traditionally been responsible for the defining the overall clinical strategy and direction of a hospital or healthcare system. While the responsibilities of a CMO have become much larger in scope in years past, they are now transforming into something altogether different.

"We're seeing a shift where responsibilities have gone from taking place inside the hospital walls to going outside of them," he says. "A CMO is now much more involved with the health of an entire community than ever before. They now need a total understanding of US healthcare delivery system," he said.

Additionally, while the CMO role used to focus on the staff at one hospital, consolidation has made a CMO's reach wider. One CMO may oversee staff at multiple hospitals in a single healthcare system. In this way, CMOs can help ensure a single standard for quality of care and direction of staff across multiple hospitals within a system.

5. Chief Executive Officer
The forces that are expanding the roles of the CMO and the CSO are also working against CEOs. As the industry continues to consolidate, the CEO ranks are shrinking. Who needs more than one CEO? As health systems grow, responsibilities that used to fall under the CEO are being reapportioned.

Not all of the work is staying in the C-suite, either. Some health systems with multiple hospitals, for example, put presidents in charge of individual hospitals rather than CEOs. The truth is, the average healthcare CEO tenure is shorter than the average NFL head coach's.

"There will always need to be a mix, but we've got non-physician leadership roles covered," said Singleton, who believes there will be plenty of opportunity for physicians who want to move into leadership roles in the value-based healthcare system. "It looks like healthcare has finally figured it out," said Singleton.