Although there is a big increase in exits year over year, hospital CEO exits are slowly declining month to month.
The number of hospital CEOs making role changes has steadied during the first quarter of 2023, but there have still been significant exits recorded compared year over year, according to a new CEO Turnover Report from Challenger, Gray & Christmas, Inc.
During March 2023, 13 hospital CEOs left their posts, a significant increase from the three hospital CEO exits recorded in March 2022. Year to date, 54 hospital CEOs made role changes through Q1 this year, a whopping 86% increase from the 29 exits announced through Q1 of 2022.
Although there is a big increase in exits year over year, CEO exits are slowly declining each month this year. So far, 23 hospital CEOs left their roles in January, and 18 left their roles in February, with a decrease to 13 exits recorded in March.
Reasons for hospital CEOs exiting their roles include retirement, stepping down to serve in a different role with their organization, interim leadership period ending, leaving for a new organization, or being terminated.
While government and non-profit CEOs are leading all industries with 85 exits recorded through the end of March, hospitals are second in the lead with its recorded 54 executive exits through the end of the quarter. The technology sector is next with 50 announced CEO changes following significant industry layoffs, and the financial industry is next with 40 CEO exits.
"Companies are undergoing a significant amount of change as they respond to economic challenges, higher costs, and talent management issues," Andrew Challenger, leadership expert and SVP of Challenger, Gray & Christmas, Inc., said in a statement.
According to the report, the number of CEO changes across sectors has also gone down month over month but has increased year over year.
The number of CEO changes across sectors fell 17% from 167 CEO exits tracked in February 2023 to 139 exits tracked in March 2023. But through March 2023, 418 CEOs made exits across sectors, which is a 6% increase from the 395 CEOs who made exits during Q1 2022.
This is the second-highest quarterly total of CEO exits tracked during the first quarter of a year. The highest was during Q1 2020 when 441 CEOs left their roles.
Melanie Blackman is a contributing editor for strategy, marketing, and human resources at HealthLeaders, an HCPro brand.