Got What It Takes to Run a Safety Net Hospital?

Do you have what it takes to be the CEO of a major metropolitan safety net hospital?

Probably not but don't feel too bad. Most people – most CEOs – don't either.

After reading the 12 pages of "position specifications" for the potential CEO candidates at Parkland Health & Hospital System in Dallas, it may be that there are only a few dozen resumes in the United States that would contain the experiences, credentials, and personal charisma needed to turn around a venerable healthcare system that serves the Big D's poor and vulnerable citizens.

With remarkable understatement, the specs sheet created for Parkland by executive recruiters Korn/Ferry International notes that the safety net faces "several significant challenges."

Those "challenges" include keeping the doors open and the lights on. The federal government has very publicly suggested that it will no longer pay the 835-bed system for Medicare and Medicaid services if hundreds of quality and safety measures are not improved upon.

Korn/Ferry says that federal mandate and the threat of lost federal funding combined with the construction of a New Parkland Hospital, and the demands of the Affordable Care Act "make the next few years perhaps the most critical in Parkland's storied 117-year history."

On the other hand, adversity builds character. The Korn/Ferry specs note that "these challenges have galvanized Parkland's employees, medical staff, board and community, as the leadership team seeks to guide the institution through this difficult period. The new CEO will lead motivated constituencies, both internal and external, to help Parkland return to preeminent status..."

There are reports that the job comes with an annual compensation package in the high six-figure range, but Parkland officials did not return calls on that topic.

The personal qualifications listed by Korn/Ferry are what we'd expect and hinge largely upon a C-suite record of success at a complex academic medical center or integrated delivery system that includes a history of strong financial and operational management.

Along with those tangibles, Parkland also wants a CEO who can "emanate a contagious sense of mission, purpose and focus." And what does the job demand?

A lot!

Korn/Ferry's list of "specific responsibilities" and "professional experience/qualifications" for Parkland CEO candidates includes:

• Gain an understanding of the system's organization, challenges, and opportunities among key constituencies which include the board; senior management; academics; physicians, local, state and federal politicians; community leaders and patients; donors and potential donors.
• Develop a strategic plan that leads to a high performing, best-of-class healthcare system which successfully grows clinical volume and captures market share.
• Attract and retain a "best-in-class" senior leadership team.
• Develop system infrastructures, including financial and information systems.
• Partner with academic constituencies to build upon educational and research programs.
• Achieve financial results through planning, improved operating and financial performance, fundraising and external involvement with legislative and payer relationships.
• Inspire people to engage, set, and execute performance goals.
• Experience working with a medical school to develop clinical, academic and research programs is preferred.
• Experience with multiple aspects of the spectrum of clinical care delivery, from prevention to outpatient and inpatient acute care to rehabilitation and home care ideally including experience with an integrated healthcare delivery system.
• Able to create and communicate a compelling picture of how the organization and healthcare overall will evolve, tying current initiatives to longer term strategies and the organization's value.
• Experience building cultures of accountability that reward initiative while sharing credit for successes and responsibility for failures.
• Can solve the most complex of problems; great at gleaning meaning from whatever data is available; is a quick study of the new and different; adds personal wisdom and experience to come to the best conclusion and solution, given the situation; uses multiple problem-solving tools.
• Can separate the mission-critical from the trivial; focuses on the few tasks that add value and puts aside or delays the rest.
• Is a person of high character; is consistent and acts in line with a clear set of values and beliefs; deals and talks straight; walks his/her talk.

Ordinarily I'd say that a list of job demands such as this is drawn up for public consumption. In this case, however, a case could be made to justify each of the skills and qualifications that Korn/Ferry has identified.

The fact is that this is a tough and demanding job. Whoever is eventually hired to lead Parkland will immediately find himself or herself pulled in any number of directions by people and issues and limited resources that in many cases will be beyond their control.

We often hear complaints about overpaid executives. If the person picked to lead Parkland can turn around the fortunes of this critically important health system, however, it will be a bargain.