Becker's Hospital Review

18 CEO / STRATEGY CEO tenures at the 20 largest for-profit hospitals By Kristin Kuchno Among the CEOs at the 20 largest for-profit hospitals, most assumed the role less than two years ago. e average tenure for healthcare CEOs is 7.6 years, according to a Crist Kolder Associates report. Of the 20 largest for-profit facilities, five CEOs took on the role in 2023, compared to four in 2024. e longest-tenured CEO was Todd Sklamberg, who became CEO of Sunrise Hospital & Medical Center in Las Vegas in 2012. e hospitals are ranked by total beds, according to the American Hospital Directory, which drew data from hospitals' CMS cost reports, as of Oct. 15. Here are the CEO tenures from the top 20 largest for-profit hospitals: Methodist Hospital (San Antonio): 1,831 beds Ryan Simpson has served as CEO since January 2023. Prior to that, he was CEO of the Medical Center of Aurora (Colo.) and Spalding Rehabilitation Hospital, both part of HCA Healthcare's continental division. Baptist Medical Center (San Antonio): 1,608 beds omas McKinney has served as CEO since August 2023. He previously served as market president of Christus Santa Rosa Hospital in San Marcos, Texas. South Texas Health System Edinburg: 887 beds Lance Ames has served as CEO since 2018 aer holding the role on an interim basis. He also previously served as associate administrator for ambulatory services at South Texas Health System of Rio Grande. Medical City Dallas: 836 beds Jay deVenny has served as CEO since April, and previously served as chief development officer at Medical City. Mission Hospital (Asheville, N.C.): 799 beds Greg Lowe was named CEO in September, succeeding Chad Patrick, who accepted a role as CEO of another HCA Hospital in Florida. Chippenham Hospital (Richmond, Va.): 793 beds Lance Jones has served as CEO since 2022. Prior to that, he was market president for HCA's Salem, Va.-based LewisGale Regional Health System. Sunrise Hospital & Medical Center (Las Vegas): 790 beds Todd Sklamberg has served as CEO since 2012. He was COO of Sunrise Children's Hospital prior to that. TriStar Centennial Medical Center (Nashville, Tenn.): 769 beds Tom Ozburn was named CEO in January 2023, succeeding Scott Cihak, who resigned for personal reasons aer six years in the role. Health system C-suites may shrink further By Laura Dyrda Health system margins have dropped for the last four months, leading to layoffs, job cuts and reorganizations. According to Strata Decision Technology's Monthly Healthcare Industry Financial Benchmarks report on August performance, health system margins dropped to an average of 1.9%, compared to 2.1% in July. The rising costs of supplies, staffing and IT tied to digital transformation and cybersecurity pressure hospital executives and boards to make tough decisions. In June, Cleveland-based University Hospitals reduced its leadership structure by more than 10%, including vice presidents and C-suite executives. Baystate Health in Springfield, Mass., and Lifespan in Providence, R.I., have made similar top leadership cuts. Are more coming? "Not to state the obvious, but healthcare is changing at a rapid pace and our leadership team needs to have the skills to not only keep up with those changes, but pivot quickly. One thing that the pandemic taught us is that healthcare can look drastically different in one day and we need to be ready to meet those challenges," said D. Richelle Heldwin, chief risk and compliance officer of St. Johns Health in Jackson, Wyo. Leadership teams have access to more data now than ever, and good data will lead to better decision-making as organizations aim to stay relevant. St. Johns is looking for team members who can generate and analyze accurate data before acting on trends. "I also see the recognition that we can be a little top heavy in healthcare and so I anticipate that most organizations will be working to lean out that top layer to focus more resources at the bedside and that means we need leaders that can wear multiple hats and manage a broader scope of services," said Ms. Heldwin. Peter Crossno, MD, medical director of pulmonary and respiratory care for Intermountain Health's Canyons region, sees a similar fate. "I think leadership teams will become much leaner with fewer levels in reporting structure between leaders and caregivers and those leaders will be established caregivers themselves," he said. "Important skills will be creating an environment of effective teaming in the wake of ever- expanding communication technology and geography." The most valued leaders, Dr. Crossno said, will be those who forge relationships with their teams and can appropriately message initiatives across sprawling networks. He aims to appoint leaders who can "bring many threads, teams and conversations together" and those who can build work groups from across the system. n

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