What does a ceo of a hospital do

Any top-level managerial job where the position requires being responsible for a large, complex organization is challenging enough on its own merits. With the changes in healthcare, CEOs in the healthcare industries are finding their jobs to be exponentially more difficult. They must manage tight margins, navigate a strict regulatory environment and contend with an increasingly diverse workforce. All of these pressures meld together within the rapidly changing healthcare industry.

The Role of the CEO in the Healthcare Industry

Many duties and responsibilities fall under the role of CEOs working in the healthcare industry. As with CEOs in any other industry, hospital CEOs need to strike a good balance between managing the many departments and daily operation and following the board’s initiatives and strategic plans.

Related to responsibilities to the employees, the CEO must oversee the Human Resources Department in their duties of hiring and retaining staff, and making sure they have the necessary education, credentials and experience. To retain qualified staff, the CEO must create and model a positive culture and encourage productivity.

CEOs are expected to oversee compliance with state, federal and CMS regulations and to relay compliance measures to the board of directors.

Working with other senior managers, the CEO is responsible for setting and following standards for excellence in operations and implementing policies and procedures. Part of this responsibility entails monitoring the hospital’s finances for steady growth.

In essence, the role of a CEO in the healthcare industry requires the executive who holds the position to ensure that almost every aspect of the healthcare facilities under their care perform efficiently while ensuring that all employees have the equipment and resources they need to deliver the best quality patient care.

Successful CEOs know that they need to network with other medical and business professionals within the community. In recent years, the rapid changes taking place within the healthcare industry are forcing the way CEOs approach their jobs. In some cases, the changes are forcing a shakeup in the types of people that healthcare boards hire to tend to the organization’s needs.

Changes in Healthcare Are Changing Role of CEO

Within the current healthcare system there’s been a greater push toward patient-centered care and value-based reimbursement. This is a vastly different approach than in past years where hospitals made the bulk of their profits in performing operations.

The changes in how insurance companies reimburse providers for their services is creating a greater push toward integration and coordination.

The only way that healthcare systems can survive the changes is to combine forces, which is why we’re seeing so many mergers and consolidations in the healthcare industry. Collaborating and creating new partnerships is the only way that hospitals can streamline their operations and minimize risks.

While partnerships make it easier to control each area of medical care, interweaving providers and services create greater complexity for CEOs than ever before.

CEOs have been forced to redirect their focus from generating profits for hospitals to managing the complex web of people and services. Today’s focus points more directly on the physicians and clinics than at the hospitals. CEOs must keep the big picture in their purview. They need to be mindful of the fact that the hospitals of today are more cost centers than profit centers.

The CEO’s workday consists of working on clinical alignment and trying to create cohesiveness when pulling systems together.

Healthcare Reform Is Transforming the Needs of Leadership in Healthcare

The changes in the way healthcare institutions conduct their affairs is creating change in the way that CEOs perform their duties. They still need the usual managerial, leadership and communication skills.

Today’s environment requires even more than that. CEOs in the healthcare industry also need to be thought leaders, influencers and innovators. They need the ability to be open to the ideas, innovations and best practices that have proven their worth in other types of industries. New duties in their role require them to build and sustain relationships with stakeholders and leaders inside and outside of their industry.

CEOs in today’s healthcare industry are building technology and health systems that are designed to serve the unique populations of people living in their communities. For communities where citizens can’t get to health providers, creative CEOs are sending vans out into the community to treat their patients and to educate them about the importance of wellness. Healthcare of today places a much greater focus on preventative and holistic health.

Prudent and wise CEOs understand that it’s no longer possible to provide healthcare in silos. Healthcare systems need to partner and collaborate with one another to limit unnecessary care and to create consistency of care.

Today’s health systems have stronger partnerships between clinical systems and operations. Leaders and managers in those systems stress the importance of the relationship between physicians and patients.

Healthcare Reform Is Transforming the Leaders in Healthcare

Some boards of directors are seeing the value in hiring physicians as CEOs because of the extensive need for provider collaboration. Physicians who fill CEO roles take their positions with built-in credibility. They share an understanding with other providers around what it means to care for people with healthcare needs.

Physician CEOs are also people who understand the challenges in how healthcare reform affects compensation for physicians. In many cases, doctors are happy to provide value-based care. Not surprisingly, they want to be paid better for caring for patients who are enrolled in value-based systems.

Many physicians would be happy to have one foot in the fee-for-service door and the other foot in the value-based healthcare programs door. Of course, they’d like to be equally compensated for both.

As for physician CEOs, many doctors are willing to step into CEO or other senior leadership positions. However, it’s difficult to find doctors who have the physician credentials and who also have what it takes to serve in a senior leadership role.

Overall, most healthcare experts seem to feel that the healthcare systems are finally moving in the right direction. A 2011 study showed that hospitals run by physicians scored 25% higher in quality care outcomes and patient satisfaction than hospitals run by traditional CEOs.

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What does a ceo of a hospital do

At their core, hospitals exist to satisfy patient needs and help individuals of all ages receive the care they deserve. More than healthcare managers and directors, hospital CEOs are ultimately responsible for a hospital’s operations, as they make decisions that drive their facilities toward sustained success.

Hospital CEOs regularly tackle high-level challenges while delegating certain daily concerns to director-level healthcare administrators. As a hospital CEO, you’ll work to promote quality healthcare services at your entire facility. You will audit department performance to ensure that finances are in order, operations are smooth and consistent, and staff members are equipped with all the tools necessary for success and full patient care.

If you’re someone who thrives in peak leadership roles and is capable of delegating responsibilities and leading teams of medical professionals as healthcare evolves, the role of a hospital CEO can serve as a fulfilling career option.

A man in a suit talks to a group of doctors.

Hospital CEOs maintain quality, consistent hospital operations, implementing operational strategies that comply with current policies and promote long-term success. In meeting with other hospital executives, you will also ensure that individual departments are fully optimized to satisfy any hospital needs.

The role of a hospital CEO is a highly specialized career option. In addition to a master’s degree, you will need extensive experience in the healthcare industry. Many hospital CEOs also maintain several active certifications to keep their skill sets fresh and relevant as the industry changes.

Hospital CEOs fulfill a variety of executive tasks. You might meet with hospital stakeholders, communicate with healthcare administrators, visit one or more hospital department floors, or revise hospital operational procedures to better accommodate current healthcare trends.

  • Implementing hospital protocols that promote hospital-wide safety and accommodate any state or federally mandated healthcare standards.
  • Staffing departments with executives who understand their roles and leverage past healthcare experiences for the benefit of their current hospital.
  • Tailoring financial plans to ensure continually appropriate spending habits across the hospital’s departments.
  • Reviewing hospital procedures and operational standards across individual departments to identify opportunities for more efficient processes.
  • Ensuring patient satisfaction by reviewing performance indicators submitted by past and current patients.
  • Protecting patient safety and dignity through safe healthcare organizational standards that create a nonjudgmental environment for all hospital clients.
  • Planning for the hospital’s current and future success by developing operations that are tailored to specific strengths and weaknesses of your facility.

These and other essential healthcare tasks keep a hospital CEO busy exercising the principles of leadership to better fulfill a patient-first mission.

Before you can assume a healthcare leadership role as a hospital CEO, you will need to complete a variety of educational requirements. After obtaining a bachelor’s degree in healthcare management or a similar field, you’ll need to continue your education with an applicable master’s degree.

A Master of Health Leadership or MBA healthcare management program can put you on the right path toward success, teaching you indispensable risk management, healthcare analysis, and healthcare systems skills that are immediately applicable once your hospital CEO career begins. 

When determining the right healthcare leadership degree for you, consider your preferred position. If you’re looking to become a hospital CEO or fulfill a similar healthcare leadership position, you’ll want to prioritize degree paths with management-heavy curriculums. This type of curriculum will be crucial in understanding specific intersections of business and healthcare and give you the key leadership and strategy skills you will need to succeed.

A master's focused on managing comprehensive, value-based care,...

A master's focused on managing comprehensive,...

A master's focused on managing comprehensive, value-based care, directly in line with innovations in health and healthcare.

  • Time: 78% of grads finish within 24 months. 
  • Tuition and fees: $4,385 per 6-month term.

Examples of careers and jobs this degree will prepare you for:

  • Managed care executive
  • Director of integrated care management
  • Health center manager/clinic manager
  • Director of integrated facilities

Your rich experience in a health-related field can mean more when you bring a master's level of understanding to the problems that organizations need to solve.

Compare degreesThis program is not the only degree WGU offers designed to create leaders in the field of healthcare. Compare our health leadership degrees by clicking the button below.

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Prepare for a career leading private or public healthcare...

Prepare for a career leading private or public...

Prepare for a career leading private or public healthcare organizations.

  • Time: Graduates can finish within 12 months.
  • Tuition and fees: $4,675 per 6-month term.

Some careers and jobs this business degree will prepare you for:

  • President and CEO
  • Vice president
  • Administrative director
  • Chief financial officer
  • Other executive-level roles

Healthcare is big business in today's complex economy.  Steer your career with this specialty MBA.

Compare online business degrees

This program is not the only online business degree WGU offers that is designed to create leaders in the field of healthcare. Compare our health leadership degrees by clicking the button below.

Compare Similar Degrees

A certificate program designed to provide healthcare...

A certificate program designed to provide...

A certificate program designed to provide healthcare professionals with the education and training they will need to advance in their workplaces and lead change.

This robust certificate program provides healthcare professionals with the skills to transform care delivery and focus on value-based payments and care.
 

  • Time: 4 months.
  • Tuition and fees: $1,225
  • Self-directed: Competency-based education and fully online, this program can be completed on your time, at your pace. Complete courses as quickly as you master the material.

In this program you will develop skills and competencies that align with the organizational competencies found in the Accountable Care Atlas and that will help prepare you to adapt care delivery to a more financially accountable and outcomes-based healthcare model.

3 Non-Nursing Jobs

No matter their leadership style, each hospital CEO puts a diversified skill set to use. These individual skills help them guide medical facilities toward continually improved results, while staying true to a mission of patient-first care.

  • Executive management: The ability to operate with a leadership attitude while implementing hospital business strategies, to connect patients with high-level care, and to ensure that hospital operations contribute to future success.
  • Risk management: The ability to protect a hospital’s core assets while avoiding risks that could compromise progress or corporate outlook.
  • Financial management: The ability to appropriately manage a hospital’s finances, allocating budget spend across departments in a way that fosters significant financial returns.
  • Interpersonal communication: The ability to correspond with fellow hospital executives, as well as all healthcare staff members, patients, and members of the media.

  • Delegation: The ability to correctly distribute tasks to healthcare department administrators and coordinators.
  • Organization: The ability to prioritize high-level tasks in order of importance, while delegating less important tasks to appropriate department administrators.
  • Public speaking: The ability to confidently address a group of healthcare employees and relay messages and updates.
  • Teamwork: The ability to work well alongside other hospital employees, complete projects, and inform future hospital operations.
  • Technological proficiency: The ability to fully use all necessary technology, including any computers, tablets, phones, electronic health records (EHRs), internet resources, and online communication tools.
  • Problem-solving: The ability to identify and creatively solve issues that are facing a hospital, its employees, or its patients.

These and other skills inform a hospital CEO’s daily leadership responsibilities and help to create a healthcare environment where patients meet favorable outcomes and healthcare professionals are sufficiently motivated.

The exact income of a hospital CEO can vary based on a number of factors, including their employer, employer’s location, public or private funding, bonuses and profit-sharing structures, years of experience, education, and active certifications.

On average, the salary of a hospital CEO is $153,770, with a range of roughly $73,000 to $307,000 earned each year.

As one of several in-demand healthcare leadership positions, hospital CEOs are expected to experience a favorable job outlook in future years. The employment of medical and health services managers is expected to grow 32% from 2019 to 2029, a growth rate well above average across all occupations.

Hospitals fulfill a critical societal need, housing patients who require more immediate medical attention. Despite the fact that many hospital services are now offered by outpatient clinics, hospitals remain a pillar of modern healthcare in their ability to provide full-service urgent care.

In some circumstances, healthcare professionals can become hospital CEOs. Given that healthcare experience is one requirement for health leadership roles, some doctors and nurses have accelerated paths to hospital CEO roles.

Though it is becoming more common for healthcare practitioners to assume hospital leadership roles, doctors and nurses will need to satisfy additional educational requirements. You can take additional steps toward a hospital CEO position with a BSN-to-MSN program if you already have a qualifying undergraduate degree.

Registered nurses looking to eventually become hospital CEOs should first pursue nurse-specific leadership roles. When becoming a nurse leader, you’ll gain valuable healthcare leadership experience that can eventually benefit your hospital CEO role.

Becoming the CEO of a hospital will require dedication and time. For most CEO’s the process involves gaining a minimum of a master’s degree in addition to 8-10 years of experience in hospital management.

Becoming a hospital CEO will require years of work and dedication. For most people this includes earning a master’s degree and a decade of experience in administrative, business management, and health care fields.

The salary of a hospital CEO ranges from about $73,000 - $307,000 with an average salary of $153,000. 

Hospital CEO’s frequently work long, challenging schedules. It’s not uncommon for hospital CEO's to work 60 hours a week or more. 

Learn more about degree programs that can prepare you for this meaningful career.

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