Children's hospitals that wish to remain autonomous in this era of healthcare reform are turning to C-level executives who focus on aligning with pediatric physician groups. Known as chief strategy officers, these executives help children's hospitals maintain independence moving forward.
Jim King, senior vice president and chief quality officer at Witt/Kieffer, an executive search firm focused on healthcare, shares insight from his experience working with children's hospitals pursuing chief strategy officers. Here are four strategies he offers for finding the right person for the job.
1. Seek candidates who have worked on strategic plans with executive teams. The ideal CSO candidate has led a multi-year strategy planning process and worked with both an executive team and hospital board to develop and carry out a strategy. This is because, at the children's hospital, they will be in charge of working on a "very formalized strategic planning process," according to Mr. King.
Despite the fact the CSO will be responsible for molding the strategic vision, he or she needs to be willing to pass off ownership of the plan to the group of leaders responsible for ensuring the children's hospital's success.
The strategy to maintain hospital independence while aligning with the right partners needs to be one that is ultimately owned by the executive team and the board, Mr. King says.
"Strategy officers by themselves can't own the strategy," Mr. King says. "But they can facilitate and help nurture it."
2. Find chief strategy officers who have experience gathering market intelligence. "They have put together an analytics think tank in their organization," Mr. King says of the ideal candidate. People with years of experience using market analytics to make informed decisions about the direction of a hospital or health system will fair well in a CSO position.
It's important for a CSO to consider what the competition is doing, what other healthcare players in the county, state and region are doing, and how those actions impact the strategy of the independent children's hospital.
"One of the things I've found in organizations beginning to create [the CSO] role is they don't have this piece of the puzzle put together," Mr. King says.
He can't over-stress the importance of market intelligence in strategic development. "Getting arms around what's going on in the marketplace" helps organizations "embark on a very formalized planning process," Mr. King says.
Organizations that have never had a CSO may not have analytic structures in place to proceed with market analysis. As a consequence, they don't know which skill sets to look for when recruiting CSOs.
3. Limit the search to candidates with business development experience. This includes both internal and external business development. Ideally, the CSO of a children's hospital has experience working with executives and physicians to develop key service lines such as oncology and orthopedics.
When considering a candidate's external business development, Mr. King says it's important to ask: "Does this person have experience helping their organization develop partnerships?"
If a children's hospital is considering linking up with a large healthcare system to expand access to care, the CSO should also have experience with clinical integration. More children's hospitals are forming strategic partnerships with specialty groups of pediatric physicians or primary care groups, making the CSO's role more necessary and nuanced.
4. Find candidates who can inspire both hospital executives and pediatric physician group leaders. Chief strategy officers should have "gravitas," a crowd presence of sorts. They should be very confident people who can both "create and inspire," according to Mr. King.
"What's so unique about this job is that it really takes a person who can relate to a lot of individuals on an executive team," Mr. King says. "You have to be able to take a lot of different opinions around that table and work through a consensus process to get everybody on the same page."
Children's hospitals continue to partner with a larger, integrated health systems. This gives the hospitals access to a larger population and a system offering patients a more seamless continuum of care. Partnerships are linking children's hospitals to physicians they can align with, as well as physician groups typically employed by larger health systems. Moreover, partnerships are allowing children's hospitals to remain independent but form a relationship with a health system. They can then morph into an accountable care organization, Mr. King says.
For example, one of Mr. King’s children’s hospital clients is currently considering a number of strategic partnerships that would allow them either to form an ACO or to participate in one at some point down the road.
Mr. King says almost every independent children's hospital is looking to potentially form or join an ACO. A chief strategy officer can serve as an integral link between hospitals and pediatricians. For instance, a CSO may partner with the children's hospital chief medical officer to get in front of the right physicians to begin dialogue. The CSO figures out how to forge stronger relationship between pediatricians and the hospital.
"In the end, it comes down to a trust factor and building a relationship," Mr. King says.
The right CSO will have enough charisma and composure to persuade physicians and executives to work together, which in turn opens doors to alignment and ACOs.
As Mr. King points out, there are a limited number of people who can provide the talent need to fill the shoes of a CSO position. The search is difficult but the payoff can be great when the right candidate comes around.
Jim King, senior vice president and chief quality officer at Witt/Kieffer, an executive search firm focused on healthcare, shares insight from his experience working with children's hospitals pursuing chief strategy officers. Here are four strategies he offers for finding the right person for the job.
1. Seek candidates who have worked on strategic plans with executive teams. The ideal CSO candidate has led a multi-year strategy planning process and worked with both an executive team and hospital board to develop and carry out a strategy. This is because, at the children's hospital, they will be in charge of working on a "very formalized strategic planning process," according to Mr. King.
Despite the fact the CSO will be responsible for molding the strategic vision, he or she needs to be willing to pass off ownership of the plan to the group of leaders responsible for ensuring the children's hospital's success.
The strategy to maintain hospital independence while aligning with the right partners needs to be one that is ultimately owned by the executive team and the board, Mr. King says.
"Strategy officers by themselves can't own the strategy," Mr. King says. "But they can facilitate and help nurture it."
2. Find chief strategy officers who have experience gathering market intelligence. "They have put together an analytics think tank in their organization," Mr. King says of the ideal candidate. People with years of experience using market analytics to make informed decisions about the direction of a hospital or health system will fair well in a CSO position.
It's important for a CSO to consider what the competition is doing, what other healthcare players in the county, state and region are doing, and how those actions impact the strategy of the independent children's hospital.
"One of the things I've found in organizations beginning to create [the CSO] role is they don't have this piece of the puzzle put together," Mr. King says.
He can't over-stress the importance of market intelligence in strategic development. "Getting arms around what's going on in the marketplace" helps organizations "embark on a very formalized planning process," Mr. King says.
Organizations that have never had a CSO may not have analytic structures in place to proceed with market analysis. As a consequence, they don't know which skill sets to look for when recruiting CSOs.
3. Limit the search to candidates with business development experience. This includes both internal and external business development. Ideally, the CSO of a children's hospital has experience working with executives and physicians to develop key service lines such as oncology and orthopedics.
When considering a candidate's external business development, Mr. King says it's important to ask: "Does this person have experience helping their organization develop partnerships?"
If a children's hospital is considering linking up with a large healthcare system to expand access to care, the CSO should also have experience with clinical integration. More children's hospitals are forming strategic partnerships with specialty groups of pediatric physicians or primary care groups, making the CSO's role more necessary and nuanced.
4. Find candidates who can inspire both hospital executives and pediatric physician group leaders. Chief strategy officers should have "gravitas," a crowd presence of sorts. They should be very confident people who can both "create and inspire," according to Mr. King.
"What's so unique about this job is that it really takes a person who can relate to a lot of individuals on an executive team," Mr. King says. "You have to be able to take a lot of different opinions around that table and work through a consensus process to get everybody on the same page."
Children's hospitals continue to partner with a larger, integrated health systems. This gives the hospitals access to a larger population and a system offering patients a more seamless continuum of care. Partnerships are linking children's hospitals to physicians they can align with, as well as physician groups typically employed by larger health systems. Moreover, partnerships are allowing children's hospitals to remain independent but form a relationship with a health system. They can then morph into an accountable care organization, Mr. King says.
For example, one of Mr. King’s children’s hospital clients is currently considering a number of strategic partnerships that would allow them either to form an ACO or to participate in one at some point down the road.
Mr. King says almost every independent children's hospital is looking to potentially form or join an ACO. A chief strategy officer can serve as an integral link between hospitals and pediatricians. For instance, a CSO may partner with the children's hospital chief medical officer to get in front of the right physicians to begin dialogue. The CSO figures out how to forge stronger relationship between pediatricians and the hospital.
"In the end, it comes down to a trust factor and building a relationship," Mr. King says.
The right CSO will have enough charisma and composure to persuade physicians and executives to work together, which in turn opens doors to alignment and ACOs.
As Mr. King points out, there are a limited number of people who can provide the talent need to fill the shoes of a CSO position. The search is difficult but the payoff can be great when the right candidate comes around.