Becoming a Hospital CEO
Do you dream of using your Masters of Healthcare Administration to become a hospital CEO? By understanding the job market and reading the blogs of some prominent hospital CEOs, you'll have a much better grasp of what you need to get there.
Hospital CEOs
Hospital CEOs generally come from a medical background and almost always hold a Masters of Hospital or Healthcare Administration. Prior to becoming CEOs, they must have about 8-10 years of experience in administrative, management and healthcare positions. The hospital CEO is the highest ranking official in the hospital organization- and he or she also has the toughest job.
What do Hospital CEOs Do?
Hospital CEOs are responsible for overseeing day to day operations, serving as moral leaders who articulate the hospital's mission and vision to the public community, and being the leaders in developing strategic vision and policies for the hospital. The CEO usually works alongside a team consisting of the CNO (Chief Nursing Officer), CMO (Chief Medical Officer), COO (Chief Operating Officer) and the CFO (Chief Financial Officer)- this is the hospital's Executive team.
Hospital CEO Salaries
Of course, money is a great motivator, and however difficult their jobs might be, hospital CEOs are compensated well for their troubles. According to PayScale, the average hospital CEO makes $$ as follows:
- Less than 1 year of experience = $59,495 to $150,117
- 1-4 years of experience = $61,176 to $149,152
- 5-9 years of experience = $79,627 to $182,537
- 10-19 years of experience = $99,212 to $220,899
- 20 years of more = $115,553 to $245,774
How do Hospital CEOs get to where they are?
In studying this list of "20 New Hospital CEOs to Know", it seems that most of the CEOs have a couple things in common:
- They served as COOs of hospitals before. COO, the Chief Operating Officer, delegates day to day operations and reports to the CEO, who is usually too busy to review production quotas and operations daily.
- They held a Masters in Healthcare Administration, Business Administration or Nursing from an accredited university.
- They held previous positions in strategic management, business and executive leadership. (Meaning medical expertise isn't all CEOs need to have!)
- They had about 15 or more years of experience in healthcare before they became the CEOs of major hospitals. (Patience is a must.)
Where can you learn more about Hospital CEOs?
There's no better place to learn about hospital CEOs than from their own blogs. Here's a list of 5 great hospital CEO blogs you can follow for insight into the lives of hospital CEOs.
- Running a Hospital Blog - Paul Levy, President and CEO of Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center in Boston, shares thoughts on hospitals and healthcare issues.
- Wake Med Voices - Dr. Bill Atkinson, president and CEO WakeMed Health & Hospitals, shares his unique perspective on healthcare.
- Roper on Health - William L. Roper, CEO of the University of North Carolina Health Care System, covers everything from health policy, global health, medical education, healthcare quality to health reform.
- SJMC World - Scott Kashman, CEO of the St. Joseph Medical Center, shares insider news about his hospital and his community.
- More Than Medicine - Tom Quinn, President and CEO of Community General Hospital, shares his weekly thoughts on healthcare, medicine and more.
The great thing about the blogging community, which you should always remember, is that bloggers want to conversate and build relationships. Use this valuable opportunity to comment on a blog post by a CEO, ask some questions, introduce yourself and become familiar with the industry.