C-Suite 2.0: Hospital hierarchy expands with new executive titles

There are several new healthcare job titles whose acronyms could be confused with those of other senior executives: chief experience officer (CEO), chief innovation officer and chief transformation officer. And these are but a few of the proliferating C-suite titles in healthcare.

It may all seem very confusing, but according to several executive recruiters who are charged with finding people to fill these roles, they all make perfect sense. That’s because healthcare is changing dramatically and the activities and responsibilities for many of these jobs are brand new.

Recruiters argue that these new job roles are needed to tackle new strategic responsibilities and to tie hospital initiatives to patience care improvements.

“Some have overlapping responsibilities from traditional jobs, but some are definitely taking on the flavor of jobs that we just haven’t had before, like a vice president of analytics,” said Tom Quinn, a senior partner with executive placement firm Witt/Kieffer in Boston.

So what are the most common new senior executive jobs being sought in 2015? Healthcare Finance asked three executive recruiters for their thoughts on the top new job titles, their primary responsibilities, and experience needed in each role. Participating were Tom Quinn of Witt/Kieffer; and Stefan Werdegar and Julee Thompson, both vice presidents at Tyler & Company.

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“That is a position with a strong IT skillset,” said Quinn. “That position has been around for several years, but you’re now starting to see it even in smaller places now. The chief medical (or clinical) information officer usually focuses on how health systems are interacting with their physician network, whether employed or non-employed.”

“Traditionally this has been a leader that has a strong background in information technology,” Quinn said. “Lots of times people have been serving as a defacto CMIO without an official title. For example, they were the lead on an EMI implementation, and they really kind of dug it.”

“The reason we’re seeing more of those is there’s a need for a link between the physician organization and the IT organization, and to help drive the adoption of the electronic medical records,” said Stefan Werdegar at Tyler & Company. “The whole point of CMIOs is to be a physician who can help drive IT strategy with other physicians. To show them how to use the system, drive outcomes, increase adoption, and look at where they’re headed with data.”

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“This is a job that didn't exist five years ago, but pretty much every hospital has one now. The job is making sense of all the data to improve clinical care,” Quinn said.

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“Early on it was tied to a technical role, an adjunct to what was going on in informatics, particularly to create and assist with new process development that technology could enable,” said Julee Thompson of Tyler & Company. “Now I see it very much aligned with key strategy and helping an organization position itself to address a value-based reimbursement model, and [to] come at it from a consumer’s or a patient’s perspective versus the way we currently generate our bottom line.”

“You truly need someone who understands how the bottom line is generated, but also has the transitional ability to assume an innovation role, to see the bigger picture and where the organization needs to go,” said Thompson. “You really want somebody who has strong change management skills, strong leadership skills, that can take an organization and help it understand how that transition needs to take place. You need someone who has strong business background that can look for those opportunities – the low lying fruit, so to speak.”

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“I’ve seen the chief transformation officer start to evolve at organizations that are positioned very proactively around the patient health, value-based care model,” said Thompson. “The position requires skill sets at a transformational level that can help the organization bridge the gap between where they are and where they've positioned themselves to be.”

“You need somebody who can think outside of the box, but at the same time you need someone with a strong understanding of healthcare,” Thompson said. “Healthcare is a highly regulated industry, so you have to still manage within regulations. [Hospitals are] looking for someone who understands where the organization is now, where it needs to be, and has the persuasive leadership ability to lead that transformation.”

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“Data exists in all health systems,” said Quinn. “[A hospital] can have one in a particular department – for example, finance can have one; so could operations; so could other areas. Frequently they’re called vice president of analytics. Often times they fall under IT, but they can also report to your chief strategy and network development officer, or they can go under the CFO.”

In any event, what is needed is “a very high level project manager that can take all this different disparate analytics throughout an organization and organize it,” Quinn said. “The main goal is to try to do more population health initiatives … and to understand the analytics behind the patient population that we have under risk. The position is going to grow, and I think it will be in every major health system.”

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“Chief investment officer is a role evolving at large organizations,” Quinn said. This individual will often have a treasury background, or might be somebody coming from an investment firm.

“The CFO used to have that purview,” said Quinn. “Sometimes you would have an investment committee made up of a lot of investment professionals to help guide investment decisions. But when you roll in everything, including pensions and million-dollar plus investments, it requires a more sophisticated chief investment officer.”

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“Hospitals are getting paid on the quality of service, so you’ll see this position grow,” said Quinn. “I’m starting to hear more about this position. It is tied to organizational goals around efficiency. Health systems are getting paid now for three things: quality, efficiency and service.”

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“They probably have some clinical experience, maybe an RN, perhaps with a Master’s degree. They are very strong in analytics but also understand process,” Quinn said. “The challenge is that you’re not looking for someone who has years and years of experience. You’re looking at someone with transferable skills.”

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