Workplace violence significantly impacts healthcare more than other industries, as highlighted by the Bureau of Labor Statistics: incidents are four times more common in hospital settings. Although healthcare workers account for less than a fifth of all workplace injuries, they endure over half of all assaults. And the threat is escalating. A Center for [continue reading…]
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Dennis J. Kain: Reflections on 50 years in healthcare
As I retire this month, I can’t help but reminisce on my career in healthcare. First, I am deeply grateful to the thousands of dedicated people who helped educate and collaborate with me since the early 1970s. Overall, my career has two distinct parts, health system leadership and consulting early on, followed by another [continue reading…]
Five Risks of Hiring the Wrong CIO in Healthcare
As healthcare delivery, reimbursement models, and technology change, the role of a Chief Information Officer (CIO) in a hospital or healthcare organization becomes increasingly important. The CIO used to be thought of as responsible for keeping an organization’s computers going, but today, the CIO role is a leader who’s responsible for protecting the organization against [continue reading…]
How Private Equity Healthcare Organizations Are Different
Healthcare’s unique identity as a recession-proof industry at the forefront of innovation makes it a natural fit for private equity (PE) firms. It’s no surprise that private equity’s presence in healthcare has exploded in the last two decades, having invested nearly $1 trillion in the industry since 2006. However, what stands out even more [continue reading…]
6 Key Candidate Attributes for Private Equity Healthcare Organizations
What’s the difference between your expected ROI and a realized loss? Leadership. In private-equity-backed healthcare, success and failure ultimately hinge on leadership and your executive’s ability to carry out a strategic plan. The private-equity-led deal volume has exceeded $750 billion in the last decade alone. As PE-backed investments in healthcare continue, the complexities of [continue reading…]
How to Overcome the Challenges of Hiring the Right Healthcare CIO
The Chief Information Officer (CIO) role can be challenging to fill even for the most prestigious healthcare organizations. Navigating the recruitment process for a CIO and other executive level technology leaders within the healthcare sector requires strategic considerations tailored to the industry’s unique demands. Kirby Bates Associates has developed strategies that assure recruitment of [continue reading…]
Five Challenges to Finding the Right Healthcare CIO
Healthcare is rapidly changing, as is the technological infrastructure supporting it. As the stakes grow, healthcare organizations depend on their chief information officers (CIOs) and technology leaders more than ever to drive strategic technology roadmaps, optimize electronic health records, maintain information security and regulatory compliance, and leverage their organization’s data to uncover new opportunities. [continue reading…]
Not Hiring an Interim Leader? Watch Out for These 3 Risks
In periods of transition and change, it’s common for healthcare organizations to think they simply need to dig in, cultivate their resilience, and push through. After all, is the cost of engaging an interim leader worth it when your time and resources could be used to identify talent or drive initiatives forward? It’s absolutely [continue reading…]
What to Know When Hiring a Healthcare CFO
What is the role of a healthcare CFO? It’s a simple question, but in hospitals and hospital systems across the country, the answer is changing rapidly. As the industry changes and hospital consolidation becomes increasingly common, CFOs have become more involved with organizational strategies of all kinds. A CFO today is not just an [continue reading…]
Five Signs You Need an Interim Laboratory Consultant
Labs are integral to exceptional patient care, and in today’s healthcare landscape, the demands on laboratories are greater than ever. Healthcare organizations must balance efficiency and precision while championing the needs of both patients and the laboratory team. Excellence in the lab is a matter of life and death — for patients and organizations. [continue reading…]
Four Vital Pillars for Effective Leadership in Healthcare Teams
In the ever-changing world of healthcare, where advancements and challenges intertwine, organizational success hinges on the collaboration of a well-coordinated leadership team. Effective leadership stands at the epicenter of achievement, becoming the driving force that not only achieves organizational goals but also surpasses the multifaceted expectations of diverse stakeholder groups. What enables that level [continue reading…]
How an Interim Specialty Clinic Director Increased OR Cases by 12%
Perioperative Services and the clinics that support them can be the highest cost center in a healthcare delivery organization, even while it also represents the most opportunity for sustainable long-term growth—accounting for upwards of 80% of a typical hospital’s revenue. With today’s increased pressure on executive leadership to improve both financial performance and quality scores, there [continue reading…]
Top 3 Reasons to Engage Interim Healthcare Leadership
Interim leaders can save the day in myriad situations when a healthcare organization is facing temporary leadership vacancies and transitions, specific project needs, and performance improvement opportunities. These are the top 3 scenarios in which high-performing health systems make the smart choice to engage interim executive leaders: 1. Leadership Vacancies and Transitions When there [continue reading…]
5 Key Reasons Why Recruiting Leaders for Private Equity-backed Healthcare Organizations is Different
Recruiting leaders for private equity-backed healthcare organizations can present unique challenges and considerations compared to recruiting for other types of companies and healthcare delivery organizations. “Over the years, I have found that executives with PE and VC experience are critical to the success of an organization,” says Troy Keach, vice president of executive search and [continue reading…]
5 Strategies for Developing Self-Awareness in Leadership
The American Organization of Nurse Leaders’ (AONL) core competencies are anchored by the ‘Leader Within.’ The ‘Leader Within’ seeks feedback, reflects, and understands how their thoughts influence their actions. In short, the ideal leader is self-aware—and they seek to become even more self-aware. Why Does Self-Awareness Matter for Leaders? As leaders ascend to senior echelons [continue reading…]
Exceeding Private Equity’s Expectations with Executive Recruiting
In the healthcare industry, private equity (PE) companies are just as likely to strike fear in the hearts of healthcare providers as they are to cause them to see dollar signs. For physician practice owners, the compensation offered by PE companies in exchange for a stake in the practice can be tempting. However, some [continue reading…]
5 Tips for Cultivating Civility in Healthcare Organizations
A workplace is only as good as its culture, and a culture can’t thrive without civility. Civility in healthcare organizations fosters teamwork, reduces conflicts, and can enhance productivity. What’s more, civility is an ethical obligation for nurses. The ANA’s Code of Ethics for Nurses with Interpretive Statements states that nurses are obligated to create an [continue reading…]
How an Interim Lab Manager Improved Operations and the Bottom Line
When the executive team of this 250+ bed California community hospital discovered challenges in Laboratory Services, they contacted Kirby Bates Associates for a highly qualified Interim Director to align the department with contemporary best practices and technology. Within days, KBA engaged a seasoned interim leader who had additional expertise in LEAN Principles and Practices to [continue reading…]
How Leaders Can Learn How to Disagree Respectfully
“Society frowns at disagreeableness. As human beings we are hardwired to seek the approval of those around us. Yet a radical and transformative thought goes nowhere without the willingness to challenge convention.” -Malcolm Gladwell If everybody always agreed on everything, the world would be boring and progress would be stifled. Disagreements and compromise are [continue reading…]
How to Stand Out as an Internal Candidate
As care delivery organizations continue to tread uncertain waters, C-suites across the nation remain in flux with retirements, reductions in force, and elimination of roles. This dynamic environment also represents an opportunity for emerging leaders. Often an internal candidate is found to be the strongest for the role. The American College of Healthcare Executives [continue reading…]