Leading Hospitals Turn To Us For High-Performing Interim Leaders.
Find interim leaders with the competencies needed to move your healthcare organization forward.
Get Top Interim Talent Fast
Kirby Bates Associates specializes in providing top-notch interim leaders who focus on your primary goals and work closely with you to achieve the best results.
KBA interim leaders are seasoned, innovative, and forward-thinking executives focused on mission and financial goals. These leaders drive rapid change, fit well with your organization’s culture, address urgent needs, provide stability, and advance your initiatives.
Days to presentation of qualified interim leaders
Years of success helping organizations deliver high-quality, cost-effective patient care
Healthcare leaders in proprietary database
Seamless Transitions And Clear Communication
The Kirby Bates Interim Leader Onboarding Team is highly skilled in healthcare roles and ensures that all candidates are thoroughly vetted before being presented to you. Plus, you can interview multiple interim leaders to find the best fit.
KBA follows a well-organized onboarding process and collaborates with your HR team to meet your timelines. The KBA Talent Engagement Team handles all logistical details like payroll, housing, and travel. We offer a competitive fee structure, which can be all-inclusive or based on weekly rates plus expenses, with biweekly invoicing and no upfront fees.
On-Going Executive To Executive Support
Every KBA Interim Leader engaged has a KBA Leadership Liaison dedicated to the engagement. The Leadership Liaison is a true, tenured executive colleague who serves as a trusted resource with a laser focus on the success of the engagement. The model taps into the power of the Executive-to-Executive connection to support both the client leader and the Interim Leader toward a seamless and successful experience.
Additionally, if you decide to hire an interim leader permanently, KBA offers a negotiable fee based on the length of the interim engagement.
Leadership Insights For Today’s Healthcare Organizations
Healthcare Private Equity Trends and Challenges in 2024
The last four years have ushered in a new paradigm of healthcare deliveries and corporate structures, with a dramatic surge and fall in healthcare private equity (PE) deal value and volumes. According to Troy Keach, Kirby Bates Associates Vice President of Executive Search, “Private equity firms are increasingly interested in the healthcare sector and [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…]
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…]
Back to the Basics: When to Hire an Interim Nurse Leader
Interim Nurse Leaders play an integral role in healthcare organizations, particularly now in the midst of a pandemic. Because staff and leaders are in flux and patient volumes and revenues are falling, keeping quality and the patient experience at the forefront of the organizational agenda is key to optimizing reimbursement. Interim Nurse Leaders fill [continue reading…]
Frequently Asked Questions
Default Closed
Why is interim healthcare leadership essential for today's healthcare organizations?
Interim healthcare leadership has become essential as healthcare organizations face unprecedented challenges, including workforce shortages, regulatory changes, financial pressures, and rapid technological evolution. Interim leaders provide immediate expertise allowing organizations to maintain operational excellence while addressing urgent needs. They bring specialized skills to navigate complex healthcare environments, ensuring continuity of patient care and organizational/departmental stability during important transition periods.
What measurable outcomes can we expect from interim healthcare leadership placements?
Our interim leaders consistently deliver quantifiable and qualitative results. Recent placements have achieved remarkable outcomes, including a 12% increase in OR cases within 90 days, $2.3M reduction in annual operating costs, 18% improvement in patient satisfaction scores, and 25% decrease in nursing turnover rates. One interim CNO reduced readmission rates by 15% while implementing new care protocols. These metrics demonstrate how experienced interim leaders drive key improvements in both financial performance and quality measures.
Which specific healthcare roles and specialties can be filled with interim leaders?
We provide interim healthcare leadership across all organizational levels and specialties. Executive positions include Chief Nursing Officers (CNO), Chief Executive Officers (CEO), Chief Operating Officers (COO), Chief Human Resource Officers (CHRO) and Chief Financial Officers (CFO). Department-level roles (Directors and Managers) encompass emergency and critical care services, medical surgical services, perioperative services, behavioral health, cardiovascular, oncology, women’s and children’s services and quality/risk management services. We also place interim leaders for specialized functions including financial operations, compliance officers, case management, Magnet Program leaders, Palliative Care, Laboratory, Radiology, Cath Lab Services, and long term care nurse leaders.
When should organizations choose interim leadership over permanent hires?
Consider interim leadership when facing immediate vacancies requiring specialized expertise and experience, major organizational transitions, temporary project leadership, or when permanent search timelines don’t align with operational needs. Interim leaders are ideal during mergers and acquisitions, new program launches, turnaround situations, or when exploring new organizational structures. If your situation requires immediate impact while maintaining search flexibility, or when facing seasonal volume fluctuations requiring temporary leadership support, interim leadership provides the optimal solution.
How do interim executives bring fresh perspective and change management to healthcare organizations?
Interim executives serve as catalysts for organizational transformation, bringing objective perspectives unencumbered by internal politics or “the way we’ve always done things.” They introduce best practices from multiple healthcare environments, identify inefficiencies that internal teams may overlook, and implement rapid cycle change initiatives. Their external viewpoint enables them to assess existing processes, introduce innovative solutions, and drive cultural shifts that permanent leaders might find difficult to initiate. This fresh perspective accelerates problem-solving and strategic advancement.
How do interim leaders provide stability and reassurance during organizational transitions?
Interim leaders serve as steadying forces during periods of uncertainty, providing reassurance and experienced healthcare leadership. They maintain operational continuity while permanent leadership transitions occur, ensuring that patient care quality and organizational performance remain consistent. Their presence signals to stakeholders that the organization remains committed to excellence and strategic advancement. Interim leaders communicate effectively with constituencies, providing transparent updates and maintaining confidence in the organization’s direction. This stability is particularly important during challenging periods such as leadership departures, financial difficulties, or regulatory scrutiny, where consistent, experienced leadership prevents organizational drift and maintains stakeholder trust.
What are the KBA Differentiators?
The Kirby Bates Associates Interim Leadership model encompasses an executive-to-executive connection throughout the engagements; our executives are highly experienced in healthcare executive leadership. The KBA executive maintains regular communication with the client and the Interim Leader to assure focus on organizational priorities. Our recruiters maintain an expansive national network of Interim Leaders and focus on the optimal fit based on client information. The KBA team manages the logistics for all Interim Leaders such as pay and benefits, housing, transportation and travel. KBA Interim Leadership offers two pricing models: all inclusive, and weekly fee plus expenses billed. Relationships and responsiveness are paramount for our team.
Does KBA offer an interim to perm option? How does it work?
KBA offers an Interim to Perm placement option. The Interim to Perm option provides an opportunity for the client and the Interim Leader to work together and determine optimal cultural and experience fit for both parties. The Master Services Agreement reflects the contract terms related to the placement fee, usually based on length of Interim Leader engagement. The KBA executive will work with the client on specific terms relative to the client situation and work with the Interim Leader to assure a seamless transition.