The health system chief human resources officer seat is turning over faster in 2026 than it did a year ago, and the job attached to it keeps getting bigger.
Becker’s has reported at least 25 hospital and health system CHRO and chief people officer appointments since Jan. 1, more than double the 11 it reported in all of 2025. The HR leaders taking these jobs are increasingly coming from other organizations, making harder financial calls and taking on broader titles and responsibilities.
The result is a role with faster turnover, more outside hires and a wider mandate. Through all of it, the measure CHROs keep returning to is retention: whether the people a system hired are still there a year later.
Here are four things to know about the CHRO role in 2026:
1. Appointments have more than doubled 2025’s total. In July, Becker’s counted 23 CHRO moves for the year, including 13 hires and 10 exits. Since then, in August and September alone, at least 12 more health system HR chiefs have been named, and several others have left their roles. The churn fits a longer pattern: a 2025 WittKieffer report found nearly 46% of health system CHROs had been in their roles for less than three years, compared with 30% of CEOs at the same organizations.
2. Big systems are filling seats with each other’s leaders. Oakland, Calif.-based Kaiser Permanente hired Shaun Smith from New York City-based NewYork-Presbyterian as chief people officer. University of Chicago Medicine tapped Gina Cronin from Washington, D.C.-based Children’s National. Pam Teufel left Radnor, Pa.-based Main Line Health in June and was named chief people officer of New York City-based Hospital for Special Surgery two months later. Each brought prior experience leading HR at another health system, a contrast with hiring across industries, where Russell Reynolds Associates found 60% of incoming CHROs in 2025 were first-timers and 45% of all appointments were first-time internal promotions.
3. The job now includes harder financial calls. Labor remains hospitals’ largest expense, at 60% of total costs in 2025, according to the American Hospital Association. HR leaders told Becker’s in June their toughest decisions included restructuring leadership teams, delaying new positions and adjusting pay to market. “Workforce decisions at this level require both discipline and empathy,” said Stacey Hancock, CHRO of Thomasville, Ga.-based Archbold. Some systems are also tying front-line raises to performance instead of attendance.
4. The title and scope keep widening. “Chief people officer” has become a common alternative to “CHRO,” and variations keep appearing: chief people and culture officer at Greensboro, N.C.-based Cone Health, chief people strategy officer at Honolulu-based The Queen’s Health System, and chief caregiver officer at Cleveland Clinic, where Kelly Hancock’s role expanded to include marketing and philanthropy. Leaders are also moving both ways between HR and operations. Amanda Maggard went from hospital CEO to division chief people officer at Altamonte Springs, Fla.-based AdventHealth. Catherine Codispoti left her chief people officer role at Chesterfield, Mo.-based Mercy to become chief administrative officer of Phoenix Children’s.
