span of control

INFOGRAPHIC | Lead Smarter: Evaluating Span of Control

May 28, 2025

Improve your management and leadership structures by getting span of control right!

In today’s dynamic health care landscape, organizations continue to focus on improvements to their management and leadership structures. A critical part of this is getting span of control right. This includes determining the number of full time equivalents (FTEs) a manager or leader can effectively oversee.

Many hospitals and health systems have been targeting wider spans of control by increasing the number of reports under each manager to enable greater efficiency – where less supervision is required and employees are encouraged to work more independently and autonomously.

How does your organization compare?

We compiled the latest data from our Workforce Metrics Benchmark Database to share industry norms and best practices:

  • The average health care executive oversees about 180 FTEs through direct and indirect reports.
  • Executives overseeing certain clinical functions such as Nursing or service lines might have upwards of 1,000 FTEs reporting up through them. Depending on organization size, those overseeing areas like HR or Marketing may have between 30 and 50 employees working under them.
  • Workforce span of control on a per-executive basis includes 4.2 Leaders for every Executive, 2.7 managers for every Leader, 14.4 Individual Contributors for every Manager.
  • Span of control varies by career stage and job family – as the workforce grows, front-line managers are seeing an increase in their direct scope of accountability.
  • Clinical job families have a higher average number of total direct reports across all career stages.
  • There are still some outliers – while there to continues to be some Management employees with no direct reports, this number is decreasing across all career stages.
  • Many organizations continue to take steps to review leadership and executive positions that do not have formal people oversight to ensure appropriate leveling and accountability.
  • …and more!

How can you move forward?

Organizations should take a bottom-up approach using span of control benchmarks to identify the number of management roles needed at each level.

Using Supervisor, Manager, Director, and Executive job titles:

  1. Start with the first level of management (Supervisors) to set a foundational guideline relative to the market
  2. Define the next level of Managers and set the corresponding target number of Supervisors below them
  3. Extend this framework upward through to Senior Managers and on then through to Director- and Executive-level positions

Dive deeper into our infographic to learn more!

 


We can help to evaluate span of control at your organization.

Looking to reduce the cost of labor and enhance employee autonomy, satisfaction and engagement? Evaluating the number of direct and indirect reports can help to streamline managerial oversight!

Contact Us!

Executive Compensation Committee: Top 10 Priorities for 2025

May 27, 2025

Is your executive compensation committee on the right path for 2025?

Help them navigate the year ahead with timely insights from our experts!


As executive compensation committees navigate an increasingly complex governance and regulatory environment, a focused agenda is critical to ensuring organizational performance, mission alignment, and compliance.

Leaders from SullivanCotter and McDermott Will & Emery identified the following top 10 priorities for executive compensation committees in 2025:

1. Establishing appropriate incentive goals in an evolving health system

Committees must adapt incentive measures and goals to reflect financial, operational, and strategic shifts, while accounting for continuing uncertainty and the health system’s charitable mission.

2. Prioritizing executive succession planning and leadership development

With highly competitive talent markets and a focus on building talent from within, health systems should regularly assess talent needs and pipelines and align compensation with talent strategies.

3. Keeping apprised of regulatory and market trends

Ongoing monitoring of federal enforcement and policy shifts, market volatility, and developments in executive compensation and talent needs is essential for effective decision-making.

4. Ensuring flexibility and defensibility in committee approval processes

When approving time-sensitive matters between meetings or adapting programs mid-year to address market volatility, decisions should be well-documented, legally sound, and supported by market practices.

5. Aligning key governance documents to fulfill committee fiduciary duties

Clear charters, compensation philosophies, and annual calendars that are adapted to today’s priorities help ensure effective oversight, decision-making and recordkeeping.

6. Evaluating committee reporting and coordination with other board committees

Regular updates to the board and planned coordination with other board committee (e.g., Quality, Audit) strengthens goal setting and governance.

7. Considering appropriate compensation models for for-profit and not-for-profit ventures and subsidiaries

As health systems expand into new ventures, innovate and look for commercialization opportunities, committees should assess the use of tailored compensation models to recruit and reward leaders of those businesses.

8. Considering board compensation trends in not-for-profit health systems

As board responsibilities and demands on members are increasing, more health systems are using compensation to attract and retain qualified members.

9. Evolving the composition of the executive compensation committee

Committees should regularly assess required member skills and overall membership to meet the growing demands of their oversight role.

10. Addressing executive compensation scrutiny

Regulatory compliance and transparent processes, through documentation, governance best practices, and proactive preparation are key to addressing any potential regulatory and public scrutiny.


Looking for more? Check out our related insights!

  • PODCAST | Governing Health: 2025 Executive Compensation Committee: Tune in for the latest insights from our experts! Tim Cotter, Kathy Hastings, and Bruce Greenblatt recently joined McDermott Will & Emery to help untangle many of the complex technical, operational and strategic issues that health care boards are currently confronting. This includes top priorities for executive compensation committees in 2025. If you’re a health care executive, board member or strategic legal advisor – you won’t want to miss this!
  • Q&A | Setting the 2025 Agenda for the Executive Compensation Committee: What's shaping the executive compensation landscape in 2025? Make sure your board stays ahead of the curve! In this  Q&A published by the American Health Law Association, thought leaders from SullivanCotter and McDermott Will & Emery break down the evolving priorities facing executive compensation committees — from incentive goal-setting and succession planning to committee composition and addressing scrutiny. Read the full discussion to equip your board with the latest insights and actionable strategies!

APP leadership positions

VIDEO | APP Leadership Positions: What are the benefits?

May 23, 2025

Leverage APP leadership positions to elevate your workforce!

Learn more from our ongoing video series...


Our data shows that APP leadership positions can reduce APP turnover by 2%.

In addition to decreased turnover and the related recruitment and retention costs, hiring APP leadership can lead to improved patient care, enhanced team dynamics, and greater overall efficiency.

Tune in to watch Hadley Powless dive deeper into how these leaders can help your organization reach the full potential of your APP workforce.

Looking for additional insight?

Dive deeper into our APP leadership data!

Round out your APP workforce strategy with insight into four different leadership levels – including compensation, administrative time, common titles, and more.

Download infographic >

Q&A | Executive Compensation Committee: Setting the 2025 Agenda

May 16, 2025

Empower your executive compensation committee to navigate complexity with confidence!

In this Q&A, leaders from SullivanCotter and McDermott Will & Emery untangle many of the complex technical, operational, and strategic executive compensation issues that health system boards and their executive compensation committees are currently confronting.

Contributing to this article are Kathy Hastings, Strategic Client Relationships Leader, and Bruce Greenblatt, Executive Workforce Practice Leader, from SullivanCotter; and Jeffrey Holdvogt, Partner, and Michael Peregrine, Partner from McDermott Will & Emery.

This includes insight into the top priorities for 2025, emerging risks, and the evolving role of the executive compensation committee.

Originally published by the American Health Law Association

Q: What are the top priorities for incentive plan goal setting in 2025?

Bruce Greenblatt: With significant environmental and regulatory uncertainties, executive incentive plans are constantly evolving. As goal setting in this environment continues to be challenging, we’re advising committees to focus on three key areas:

  1. Strategic Alignment: Ensure incentive plan performance measures are linked to both short-term operating plans and long-term strategic objectives. Financial sustainability remains an important baseline objective. While operating margin is a core indicator, health systems also are focusing on measures of cost efficiency. With a renewed focus on driving long-term success, more plans are incorporating measures related to growth, patient access, AI advancements, revenue diversification, and value-based care. Committees also need to consider mission-oriented measures – like community benefit and social determinants of health – which tie directly to the health system’s charitable purpose.
  2. System-Wide Integration: Secondly, there is a greater focus on tying incentives to shared system performance goals versus entity-level or individual outcomes – especially as health systems continue to integrate and evaluate their operating models.
  3. Accounting for Uncertainty: To address market volatility, committees should consider goal measurement beyond absolute performance and a broader range of possible performance outcomes.  This can include performance relative to peers, year-over-year improvement, and the achievement of important longer-term milestones.

Q: Why is executive succession planning a top priority right now?

Kathy Hastings: Executive turnover remains high, and the increase over the last few years is significant. As such, it’s critical for health systems to ensure effective succession planning and leadership development to manage organization and talent risk.

Compensation committees play an important role here as they understand leadership roles and how a health system’s structures are evolving – which puts them in a strong position to ensure compensation programs are closely aligned with leadership development activities and desired performance outcomes. The cost of external talent is high. Therefore, many health systems look to develop executive talent from within – a key part of the succession planning process. An effective succession process requires tight alignment between executive success profiles, compensation, and talent strategy.

Q: How should committees stay current with regulatory and market trends in a shifting political environment?

Michael Peregrine: It’s vital to track not only legal and policy changes, but also enforcement trends. Committees must adapt quickly under the current ‘flood the zone’ strategy coming out of Washington. Under these circumstances, it is critical to monitor new events and to educate committee members on executive orders and policy changes that affect the committee’s process and have implications for executive compensation.

Bruce Greenblatt: Beyond developments in Washington, committees should continue to monitor trends among their peers in executive compensation levels, performance and incentive practices, and talent strategy. This will enable the committee to remain current in a competitive recruitment market – especially as health systems require more specialized executive skills in this challenging environment.

Q: What level of flexibility should committees maintain in their governance and approval processes?

Michael Peregrine: Any decision must be defensible, well-documented, and follow the process set forth in the committee’s charter.  That includes legal guidance and insight from the general counsel to understand what state law permits – whether it’s remote meetings, taking actions by unanimous consent, etc. – and ensuring member availability and engagement.

Kathy Hastings: As there is often pressure on committees to make more urgent or timely decisions, it’s important to have some level of flexibility in addition to high levels of defensibility.

Michael Peregrine: This is where the advice from general counsel is very important. They can advise on the availability and appropriateness of flexible processes for a particular action.

Q: How should the committee ensure effective governance and fulfill its fiduciary duties?

Kathy Hastings: Given the complexity of the committee’s decision-making process, the alignment of three key governing documents is critical.

There must be:

  1. A clear charter that defines the committee’s authority, responsibilities, membership, and processes.
  2. A compensation philosophy that guides decision-making, defines compensation components, and aligns compensation strategy with the health system’s performance and goals.
  3. An annual calendar of activities to support timely execution of charter responsibilities. This can serve as a checklist to ensure that the committee’s work is being done according to both the charter and compensation philosophy.

Health systems should review these documents to ensure they capture evolving priorities and the scope of the committee’s activities. Together, these support consistent, compliant, and mission-aligned governance.

Q: What are the committee’s responsibilities in terms of reporting relationships?

Jeffrey Holdvogt: Compensation committees should regularly report to the board on their activities. While the committee should serve its function independently, it should also keep the board and other committees well apprised of what’s happening as they all aim to fulfill their fiduciary duties and serve the broader purposes of the organization.

This is important for two reasons. First, operationally, the board needs to know that the health system is well positioned to recruit, retain, and reward talent utilizing reasonable compensation benchmarks. Second, the board needs to know that the committee is effectively serving its function to minimize risk.

While these reports to the board should be done annually, we often advise that they occur more regularity – both formally and informally. These updates should include:

  1. Approved levels of compensation, incentives, and benefits.
  2. Reasonableness determinations using appropriate comparability data and benchmarks.
  3. Confirmation of members’ disinterested status.
  4. Recommendations for changes to the charter or calendar.

Michael Peregrine: In addition to updating the board, there also should be appropriate coordination with other committees – like audit, governance, and quality. Many topics overlap, and hand-in-glove communication prevents disconnects and helps to ensure that everyone is on the same page.

Q: As innovation becomes a strategic priority, how should committees approach executive compensation in new ventures and commercialization efforts?

Kathy Hastings: Health systems are increasingly launching new businesses, venture funds, and innovation arms as they look to diversify revenue and improve patient access and outcomes.

Health systems may need to source executives from industries such as venture capital, private equity, or asset management. Talent in these markets is often compensated differently – lower base salaries and higher incentives – than traditional not-for-profit health care leaders. Thus, health systems may need to implement tailored compensation programs for leaders of these businesses.

For example:

  1. For-profit subsidiaries often use equity or carried interest plans, aligning payouts with value or fund returns and offering tax advantages.
  2. Not-for-profit subsidiaries often use cash long-term incentive plans focused on multi-year performance tied to returns on invested capital.

These plans should be tailored to the circumstances of the business and health systems must be mindful of considerations related to tax status. This is an evolving space with new practices emerging.

Q: Is compensation for board members becoming more common in not-for-profit health systems?

Bruce Greenblatt: Yes, although board compensation is still a minority practice, prevalence has increased – especially in health systems with over $5 billion in revenue. Board service is more demanding as systems grow in complexity and risk. Compensation can help attract and retain qualified board members, especially those with outside industry expertise, and can ensure active member engagement by encouraging them to devote the necessary time to board responsibilities.

However, any such program must be carefully evaluated considering the increase in regulatory scrutiny and state charity regulations.

Q: What are some important considerations as health systems assess the composition of their executive compensation committees?

Jeffrey Holdvogt: Committee membership should be regularly assessed to ensure it can meet the growing demands of its important oversight role. To maintain a reasonable size, we generally suggest at least 5 to 7 members based on the system’s unique circumstances. While most members won’t have experience in all areas, we recommend a combination of those with expertise in compensation, finance, human resources, and benefits or prior service on similar governing board committees. This will also help to ensure diversity of thought and viewpoints.

Disinterested status is essential – meaning no conflicts, financial ties, or reporting relationships to executives under review.

Q: What should committees do to prepare for external scrutiny?

Kathy Hastings: Executive pay remains under intense media and political scrutiny – and we don’t expect this to change. Health systems should ensure they engage in highly defensible and well-documented compensation decision-making. Many of the governance practices we previously outlined are the best way to ensure the process is robust.

Bruce Greenblatt: A well-governed and transparent process will support the defensibility of the compensation program – one tied to performance, backed by market data, and rooted in best practices.

Michael Peregrine: Don’t assume regulators are standing down just because of budget cuts. State charity officials and media outlets remain active. It is imperative to protect your health system’s reputation and trust. These are two intangible assets that boards are responsible for preserving.

Jeffrey Holdvogt: Maintain detailed documentation of the key facts of every decision – who was involved, what data were used, and how any deviation from benchmarks was justified. This record is the committee’s shield.


 

About McDermott Will & Emery

McDermott Will & Emery partners with leaders around the world to fuel missions, knock down barriers and shape markets. Our team works seamlessly across practices and industries to deliver highly effective—and often unexpected—solutions that propel success.
More than 1,400 lawyers strong, we bring our personal passion and legal prowess to bear in every matter for our clients and the people they serve.

About SullivanCotter

SullivanCotter partners with health care and other not-for-profit organizations to understand what drives performance and improves outcomes through the development and implementation of integrated workforce strategies. Using our time-tested methodologies and industry-leading research and information, we provide data-driven insights, expertise, and solutions to help organizations align business strategy and performance objectives – enabling our clients to deliver on their mission, vision, and values.


Community Health settlements

PODCAST | Community Health Settlements: A Valuator's Perspective

April 25, 2025

What went wrong at Community Health Network?

Tune into our AHLA-sponsored podcast to unpack the $480 million settlements…

Physician compensation continues to face intense scrutiny. Health care leaders must strengthen governance processes, maintain fair market value (FMV), and evaluate commercial reasonableness accurately to avoid regulatory risks.

Is your organization able to take on these challenges effectively?

SullivanCotter’s Dave Hesselink, AJ Orille, and Mark Ryberg recently sat down to discuss the record-breaking Community Health Network settlements and explore how other health care organizations can avoid ending up in a similar situation.

Listen in to learn more about the compliance concerns that were involved, best practices for FMV and commercial reasonableness documentation, the importance of clear governance and transparency, and more!


Dive deeper into the Community Health settlements!


clinical workforce retention

On-Demand Webinar | Improving Clinical Workforce Retention

April 21, 2025

Need innovative strategies to strengthen your clinical workforce retention strategy?


The health care industry is facing critical workforce challenges.

Over the next decade, the Bureau of Labor Statistics estimates a shortage of nearly 200,000 U.S. nurses, along with ongoing shortages in other key clinical roles. As organizations navigate persistent staffing shortages and a competitive talent market, understanding what drives retention across the clinical workforce has never been more essential.

In this on-demand webinar, experts from SullivanCotter and Lotis Blue Consulting gather for an in-depth discussion on the elements that create a compelling Employee Value Proposition (EVP) for clinical staff. They also provide data-driven insights and actionable strategies to strengthen your clinical workforce retention strategy across nursing and other critical health care roles.

Throughout this session, our experts discuss:

  • Drivers of retention for clinical health care professionals across 33 elements of the EVP
  • Underlying causes of turnover and dissatisfaction driving employees to consider leaving their jobs
  • Key differences in preferences between nursing and non-nursing talent
  • Applying research methodology to evaluate and improve your EVP
  • Emerging HR and compensation programs that offer more workplace flexibility and opportunity
  • Utilizing a clear career framework that balances labor cost efficiency and retention

Sign up for instant access to the recording:

This session highlights key findings from Lotis Blue’s recent research: The Science of Staying: 2025 Health Care Workforce Retention Study. This report explores psychological factors influencing clinicians’ decisions to stay, consider leaving, or exit their roles.

Learn more >

physician workforce planning

VIDEO | Transform physician workforce planning

April 21, 2025

Struggling to meet evolving patient and clinical staffing needs?

SullivanCotter can help! Watch our video to learn more about our innovative Provider Needs Assessment.


Without the right tools, physician workforce planning remains complex. With the help of our innovative Provider Needs Assessment, health care organizations like yours can leverage data-driven insights to identify the right amount and type of physician specialties necessary to effectively serve your community.

Utilizing customized forecasting scenarios and a growing supply and demand database, our cloud-based solution enables your team to better identify, monitor, and respond to changing service needs and physician staffing requirements in today’s rapidly evolving health care environment.

Gain access to the data you need to improve physician workforce planning! Explore our Provider Needs Assessment solution to analyze your local market’s physician supply and demand, identify service line delivery gaps, and more!

Access the data you need to enhance your approach to physician workforce planning!


Explore our Provider Needs Assessment solution to analyze your local market’s physician supply and demand, identify service delivery gaps, and more.

Learn more >

SullivanCotter’s PNA application with interactive cloud-based dashboard helps organizations to:

  • Reduce guesswork regarding population demographics
  • Identify demand by selected services areas, population demographics and payment type
  • Create competitive edge by optimizing physician resources
  • Improve physician staffing and recruiting decisions to help control the cost of employment
  • Pinpoint employed and affiliated market physicians by specialty
  • Inform physician strategy and alignment efforts to enhance performance
  • Gain insight into the influence of APPs and emerging technologies
  • Utilize accurate listing of physicians within a market
  • Identify service line delivery gaps and opportunities


PODCAST | Governing Health: 2025 Executive Compensation Committee

April 9, 2025

We’re featured in a new episode of McDermott Will & Emery’s longstanding Governing Health podcast

SullivanCotter’s Bruce Greenblatt, Kathy Hastings, and Tim Cotter join Michael Peregrine and Jeff Holdvogt from McDermott Will & Emery to help untangle many of the complex technical, operational, and strategic issues that health care boards are currently confronting. This includes the top priorities for 2025, emerging risks, and the evolving role of the executive compensation committee.

If you’re a health care executive, board member or strategic legal advisor – you won’t want to miss this!

Listen now for greater insight into:

  • Establishing appropriate incentive goals in an evolving health system
  • Prioritizing executive succession planning/leadership development
  • Keeping appraised of regulatory and market trends
  • Ensuring flexibility and defensibility in committee approval processes
  • Aligning key governance documents to fulfill committee fiduciary duties
  • Evaluating committee reporting and coordination with other board committees
  • Overseeing executive compensation in for-profit and not-for-profit ventures and subsidiaries
  • Considering board compensation trends in not-for-profit health systems
  • Determining the need to evolve the composition of the executive compensation committee
  • Addressing executive compensation scrutiny


The Art and Science of Executive Job Leveling

April 4, 2025

Build a well-defined executive job-leveling framework to position your organization for growth and change!

There is no 'one-size-fits-all' approach

Download article >

by Tim Pang, Principal, SullivanCotter

In the complex world of health care leadership, executive job leveling and titling are critical components of talent management and professional development. This is evidenced by the increasing geographic scope of organizations at the local, regional, and national level and the broad range of care settings such as inpatient, ambulatory, and more. It also includes several corporate and clinical positions that coexist in a multispecialty environment – from standard roles such as Chief Financial Officer and Chief Medical Officer to more specialized ones like Chief Clinical Transformation Officer.

As health care organizations position themselves for growth and change, building a well-defined executive job leveling framework serves as a foundation for expanding and scaling an organization’s senior leadership team and supporting the growth of talent from within. It provides a formal and consistent approach for defining leadership roles, delineating responsibilities, and creating clear pathways for career progression.

In this article, we explore the benefits of a formal executive job leveling structure, discuss how organizations are creating best-in-class frameworks, and highlight what to consider when developing or updating the organization’s framework.

Why use an executive job leveling framework?

There are many reasons health care organizations design and implement a comprehensive career architecture and job-leveling framework for the leadership team:

Establishes the foundation for employee growth and development across the organization.

Job leveling frameworks have been traditionally used for individual contributors to shape clear career progression pathways and define key skills and competencies. However, many health care organizations have moved to streamline their leadership structure in recent years. Applying these structures and tactics at the executive level has become increasingly common. With financial pressures, mergers, and acquisitions, there has also been an increased focus on integration across the health system, building talent from within, and the resulting change required to move into new organization structures and delivery models.

Defines the scope and accountability of each executive role.

To leverage the unique talent of the leadership team, the intended scope and accountability of each level within the organization should be well defined. For example, what level of authority and accountability should Senior Vice Presidents have? How does that vary at the local care site versus enterprise level? Defining the scope provides visibility into efficiency and opportunities to streamline parts of the management structure or expand others to support growth and strategic initiatives. Organizations continue to look at leadership headcount and cost, and having the right executive job leveling and titling framework helps define spans of control and organization layers.

Well-defined levels provide objectivity, rigor, and consistency around criteria for promotion and new role creation. Many systems find themselves with larger executive teams because the talent required and roles are not well defined. Having clear and objective criteria helps prevent title inflation and promotes consistency across the executive team. With many organizations focusing on internal talent development to fill key executive positions, leveling frameworks provide visibility into career pathing and facilitate leadership progression and succession planning discussions. The health care workforce continues to become increasingly complex and matrixed – and many organizations are implementing operating models changes as a result. For example, this may include shifting from a system-wide structure to a regional model. Resetting the management leveling framework may be necessary to adapt to a new operating model and reflect the diversification of business/service lines.

Enables the development of an executive total rewards structure for better compensation decision-making.

It is important to ensure that compensation and rewards align with the level of oversight and impact expected of senior executives. Compensation should be in line with their contributions and ability to influence strategy and decision-making at the highest level.

“There is both an art and science to this approach. While benchmarks should be anchored in science, the design should be more of an art – a customized leveling framework tailored specifically to the strategic business needs of each organization.”

How do organizations develop a best-in-class executive leveling and titling structure?

When the organization is ready to create a structure, it is important to establish and follow a defined process to ensure success. To start, following these four steps can help with the design and implementation of a well-defined executive leveling framework:

1. Understand the current state

It is important to understand the starting baseline before beginning to change the organization structure. Several key metrics and measures can help to assess the current state. Each of these should be analyzed for the organization as a whole and by specific business unit – such as by job family, department, or functional area:

  • Size of the workforce – The number of individuals in the business unit and at each level within the unit.
  • Span of control – The number of employees reporting up to each manager directly or indirectly through subordinate managers. This provides a representative picture of the total responsibility of each leader and executive.
  • Number of management layers – Smaller or flatter units may only have three or four levels with individual contributors reporting to managers who then report to a director. Others may have five or six levels that include Assistant Managers, Senior Directors, and Vice Presidents.
  • Number and types of job titles – There may be a variety of job titles within each level such as a System Director, Regional Director, or Administrative Director. This may imply a more distinct hierarchy.

2. Use market benchmarks to guide the design

Once the organization’s baseline has been established, it is helpful to analyze equivalent market-based benchmarks to understand how the organization compares to its peers. This can help to determine the appropriate number of titles or levels across the organization as well as the distribution of employees within those levels and titles.

A few key aspects to keep in mind include:

  • Industry-specific benchmarks – Health care is complex, and industry-specific benchmarks help to provide the right context for the executive job leveling framework. The types of roles, job titles, and levels needed for an integrated health system to effectively serve its patient population may be very different from a comparably sized manufacturing or service organization. The example below sourced from SullivanCotter’s proprietary Workforce Insights360™ database shows how the use of titles is tied to organization size – mid-sized and large organizations typically use more titled levels than smaller organizations.

Example of level prevalence benchmarks by organization size

Executive Job Leveling - Title Prevalence

 

  • Peer group selection – Comparing against the eight group of industry peers is important. Workforce size and other related metrics can be highly correlated to overall organization or business unit size. A larger organization has more staff in each business unit and requires more managers and executives. The rate of growth or change in management and executive span of control may also depend on the size of the organization. Organization type will also make a difference. For example, a specialty pediatric health system may choose to structure itself differently from a system with a notable mix of critical access hospitals. Utilizing a peer group for comparison allows organizations to reference data across a variety of factors and will help to enhance the range and relevance of the market data.
  • Interpretation of benchmark data – The science may be in the numbers, but there is an art to interpreting them. Market data should serve as a directional guide and tool to enhance decision-making about organization design. Benchmarks should not be used alone to determine how the organization should look or to set specific targets.

3. Clearly identify and define the right factors and criteria

While benchmarks should be anchored in science, the design should be more of an art – a customized  executive job leveling framework tailored specifically to the strategic business needs of each organization. Best-in-class leveling frameworks use a mix of objective and subjective factors to establish the appropriate criteria for accountability and responsibility at each level. Each factor may also have a different weighting depending on its importance to the organization.

Some common factors include:

Objective Factors

  • Organization reporting level – What is the role’s relative reporting position to the CEO?
  • Supervisor title level – What is the role’s supervisor?
  • Total reports – What is the size of the role’s total reporting structure?
  • Highest direct reports – What is the role’s highest direct subordinate?
  • Functional accountability – What type of functional oversight does the role have? Does it oversee multiple job families, a single job family, or functions within a job family?

Subjective Factors

  • Organization-driven – Such as oversight of an emerging market or an area of competitive advantage.
  • Level-driven – Such as strategic contribution or financial responsibility.
  • Function-driven – Such as patient impact or risk management.
  • Job-driven – Such as external influence or operational excellence.
  • Individual-driven – Such as talent scarcity or contribution potential.

With the above factors in mind, there are a few additional considerations to note when defining these criteria. To help ensure a more holistic approach, it’s important to develop categories that are broad enough to cascade down the organization. Examples of these categories include scope of supervisory responsibility, strategic impact, risk influence, budgetary oversight, experience, problem-solving and functional accountability. Each category would have specific criteria to help differentiate them across broader career stages, such as Directors versus Executives, and within specific job levels – like Vice President compared to Senior Vice President.

Additionally, using simple, clear, and unambiguous language will help to improve understanding and application across the organization. Leveling definitions and criteria need to be clear to all employees. Leaders and managers across different departments must reach a common understanding of the criteria and apply the definitions consistently. At the same time, all employees should understand the criteria pertaining to their level as well as the level above in order to understand the scope and accountability required for individual career progression.

Lastly, it’s important to stay flexible to capture non-conforming roles. The organization’s executive job leveling structure should be agile enough to balance objective criteria with the need to address the more subjective criteria of roles that might not conform to typical span of control levels. For example, even though leadership roles in strategic growth areas may not meet ideal span of control targets, they are still highly important and influential in the organization.

Example of a job title matrix that includes reporting level and functional accountability of the jobs.

executive job leveling and span of control

4. Navigate change management effectively

Change management is critical to successful implementation and should begin at the onset of the engagement. The more transformative the change, the more important early and effective management and communication will be.

Examples of this include:

  • Define and communicate clear objectives and outcomes to ensure there are common goals for which all stakeholders can strive.
  • Identify and engage the right stakeholders, change agents, and champions to create a core group of individuals who will work together to review leveling criteria, role assignments, transition plans and drive towards successful outcomes.
  • Develop a compelling business case to establish buy-in from the various stakeholders who may participate or have influence on the process.
  • Determine the implementation and rollout plan and follow these steps to ensure success. The final rollout plan can be refined over the course of the engagement. It may be done by creating a pilot program for one core business unit or by rolling out changes across the organization via a phased approach. The implementation plan should reference how transitions will be addressed for incumbents whose levels/titles are expected to be higher or lower than current.
  • Continue to monitor progress and act on feedback as the new framework is implemented. It will be important to regularly evaluate its effectiveness and determine refinements to leveling definitions and criteria. Setting up checkpoints to monitor progress after implementation helps prevent parts of the organization from reverting to previous practices. Make efforts to gather feedback to help with the development of mitigation plans and adjust as challenges surface. Continue to review and calibrate the framework over time as the organization evolves and business needs change.

Conclusion

Looking ahead, industry changes coupled with the increase in mergers and acquisitions will bring a higher degree of nuance across health care leadership roles. Establishing an executive job leveling framework that is customized to each organization is critical to aligning leadership competency and performance with long-term organizational success. This also supports talent management, career growth, and succession planning processes by defining the expectations for each leadership level and role.

Building an effective executive leveling framework requires a combination of art and science. There is no one-size-fits-all approach. Make sure to use specific and precise market benchmarks to help set the stage, and then interpret these benchmarks effectively to customize leveling definitions and criteria designed to meet the organization’s unique needs, long-term strategy, and growth priorities.


About the author:

Tim Pang is a Principal in SullivanCotter’s Workforce Analytics and Rewards practice and has spent over 20 years advising health care clients on how to improve performance by adapting and/or changing their workforce structure and organization design.


INFOGRAPHIC | Registered Nursing Compensation Insights

April 1, 2025

Shape your RN workforce structures with the latest compensation benchmarks.

Health care organizations continue to face unprecedented clinical workforce shortages. The registered nurse (RN) workforce has been hit particularly hard due to post-pandemic burnout, unfavorable working conditions, and an insufficient pipeline of future clinicians. As critical staffing issues persist, organizations are looking for better ways to recruit and retain RNs in a competitive talent market.

Utilizing data from our Registered Nursing Compensation Survey – which includes data from approximately 350,000 nursing employees across 115 positions – we’ve compiled the latest benchmarks and insights on emerging compensation trends within this workforce.

Access our infographic and discover how organizations like yours are addressing RN shortages through:

  • Tailored market strategies – Nearly half (46.7%) of health care organizations have established an RN-specific pay philosophy to accommodate unique workforce demands.
  • Changes in base pay and market increases – In early 2024, more than 50% of health care organizations undertook a large project to review and compare their RN pay to market data in order to assess competitiveness. These projects resulted in sizable base pay increases across the board. On top of this, some RN specialties saw higher-than-average base pay market movement in 2024.
  • Additional compensation – Premium pay programs are changing to better meet the needs of the evolving RN workforce. Many organizations are adopting innovative new practices to further workplace flexibility and strengthen the employee value proposition.
  • Staffing utilization – More than 55% of Chief Nursing Officers rely on key staffing metrics – with turnover being the most critical – to assess and optimize their resources.
  • …and more!

Learn more about our Registered Nursing Compensation Survey!

This survey offers valuable insights into:

  • Data for nursing students, LPNs, NPs, CNMs, and CRNAs for a robust pulse on the holistic licensed and professional nursing market
  • How market strategies vary based on level, setting, specialty, and experience
  • The frequency of market data comparisons and best practices for effective program administration
  • Premium pay design, bonus structures, and alternative work arrangements including per diem, extra shifts, rate differentials, call pay, bonuses and more

 

 


INFOGRAPHIC | APP Workforce Insights: Critical Care

March 24, 2025

Learn more about APP work expectations, models of care, billing practices and more within Critical Care settings.

As health care organizations seek to improve access, quality, service, and affordability, developing a strategy to integrate, optimize and engage the growing advanced practice provider (APP) workforce across all specialties is essential.

Critical Care is a cornerstone of modern health care. As the demand for these services grows, APPs within these units help to ensure high-quality, accessible, and efficient care for patients with complex and unstable conditions, injuries, and illnesses.

With the latest optimization and utilization benchmarking data, organizations can establish a comprehensive APP workforce strategy and prioritize critical areas of opportunity. Consider the following specialty-specific insights into Critical Care setting when evaluating your APP workforce.


VIDEO | How can APPs navigate team dynamics in the clinical setting?

March 24, 2025

Set the stage for a more effective and efficient care team!

Learn more from our ongoing video series.


Your APP workforce is critical…

Are their roles and responsibilities clearly understood in relation to physicians, nurses, and other clinical staff?

Tune in to watch Hadley Powless discuss how organizations should define these roles at the specialty-level to support top-of-license practice and enhance care team collaboration.

Looking for help?

We’re experts in developing strategic models of care to integrate and engage this growing workforce.

Partner with us to transform the way the way your care team collaborates!

View our services >

improve physician workforce planning

VIDEO | How are generational differences impacting physician compensation?

March 20, 2025

Physician workforce expectations are evolving! Watch our new video for the latest insights.


A new generation of physicians is entering the workforce…

While compensation models have remained relatively consistent for years, younger providers want change. Many are looking to trade traditional production-based pay structures for higher guaranteed salaries and expanded benefits – including housing assistance, student loan forgiveness, and more.

Is your organization up to speed? It may be time to reassess your physician compensation strategy.

In this video, SullivanCotter’s Mark Ryberg discusses how your organization can take on these challenges and stay competitive as this shift continues

Reach out to our experts...


Partner with SullivanCotter to design and implement innovative compensation programs!

Learn more >

On-Demand Webinar | What's Ahead for the Health Care Workforce in 2025?

March 18, 2025

The size, shape, and cost of your employee population are constantly evolving…


It’s important to ensure you have the right workforce structures in place as your organization grows.

This requires data-driven insight and expertise!

Join us for an impactful session on emerging workforce trends and challenges that health care HR leaders plan to address in 2025.

View our webinar at your convenience…

We’ll walk you through key components of an effective workforce structure with a focus on:

  • Updating your career architecture to create a more flexible and nimble workforce
  • Integrating objectivity into your job leveling definitions and criteria
  • Developing regional models and enhancing centralization as part of a matrixed structure

We’ll also highlight data from SullivanCotter’s Workforce Insights360™ Database and results from a recent pulse survey of health system CHROs.

Sign up for instant access to the recording:


VIDEO | Discover effective ways to retain top physicians

March 18, 2025

Don't lose out on top talent to your competitors! Watch our new video for the latest insights.


Prepared for the potential elimination of non-compete agreements?

This possibility presents a significant challenge for hospitals and health systems as many rely on non-competes to retain physicians and protect their workforce investments. Without these agreements, organizations face an increased risk of losing top talent to competitors.

Adopt a new approach to ensure the stability of your workforce!

SullivanCotter’s Mark Ryberg discusses how your organization can prepare by implementing long-term incentives, deferred compensation plans, and enhanced retention strategies to stay competitive in today’s evolving market for talent.

Reach out to our experts...


Partner with SullivanCotter to attract, retain, engage top talent!

Learn more >

CASE STUDY | Strategies for Addressing Radiologist Supply Shortages

March 12, 2025

Recommendations to help your organization to maintain adequate coverage

Download case studies >

by Dave Hesselink, Managing Principal, SullivanCotter and Tim Stamper, Principal, SullivanCotter

The field of diagnostic radiology is undergoing significant transformation driven by advancements in technology, the increased demand for imaging to support cancer patients, and the integration of artificial intelligence (AI) into key workflows. As imaging becomes increasingly central to patient care, health systems are working to ensure their staffing models for this key service line are highly functioning as related challenges and opportunities arise.

Presented via a series of case studies, this article illustrates key obstacles many organizations are facing as the demand for radiologists continues to grow but the supply of providers falls short. Given the implications these shortages could have on patients and the broader medical community, this issue has raised concerns among health care providers across the nation. As health systems look to address these challenges and maintain coverage, many are reevaluating the way they contract, employ, and compensate radiologists.

Market Perspective and Changing Landscape

According to the American College of Radiology (ACR), the demand for diagnostic imaging services is rapidly increasing. This is driven by an aging population, chronic disease management, and the growing reliance on imaging for diagnosis and treatment planning. However, the supply of radiologists is not keeping up with this demand. The ACR reports that the shortfall could reach as high as 19,500 radiologists by 2036.

This shortage is further compounded by an aging radiologist workforce and limitations on new entrants into the field.2 In other fields of medicine, other clinicians such as advanced practice providers have been critical in helping to improve or maintain patient access amidst ongoing physician shortages. However, in diagnostic radiology, there is no equivalent alternative workforce available. Organizations are also facing several recruitment and retention challenges within this specialty as professionals can be more selective in a competitive job market that includes non-traditional options like teleradiology. Additionally, there is growing concern that technological advancements, such as AI and automation, cannot fully replace the expertise and decision-making capabilities of human radiologists. As the shortage continues to grow, the ACR is calling for action to address this gap through measures such as expanding training programs, promoting workforce diversity, and leveraging technology to enhance the efficiency of radiological services.

The ACR also notes the challenges faced by regional private radiology groups in its research.3 The decline of these groups has been attributed to several factors – including consolidation within the health care industry, financial pressure from declining reimbursement, the rise of corporate-owned radiology groups, and the growing complexity of managing practices in a competitive job market. These pressures are leading to concerns about the shrinking number of independent radiology practices and the impact this may have on job satisfaction, autonomy, and the quality of patient care.

How are Organizations Addressing These Issues?

Please note these are real organizations with fictional names.

Case Study #1: Radiology Coverage for a Midwest Community Hospital

Midwest Community Hospital (Midwest) is a 400-bed medical center that partnered with a local independent medical group (the Group) to provide diagnostic and interventional radiology services. The partnership operated under a professional services agreement (PSA) in which the Group billed for imaging services and Midwest subsidized the Group by covering the gap between the professional collections – minus Group operating expenses – and the market rate for imaging services.

In early 2024, the Group notified Midwest that it would terminate the PSA due to chronic staffing shortages and financial difficulties arising from the structure of the original agreement. As a result, Midwest was left with limited options for securing imaging services moving forward.

These options included:

  1. Directly employ its own radiologists
  2. Renegotiate the terms of the existing PSA to maintain the current Group’s coverage
  3. Enter into a new PSA with a national radiology firm

Midwest believed that employing its own radiologists directly was the least feasible option considering ongoing recruitment challenges and supply and demand imbalances. Although the organization attempted to renegotiate with the Group, discussions regarding the financial terms of the original PSA proved unproductive as the Group felt the arrangement was no longer sustainable due to the high market rates being requested by new recruits coupled with retention challenges among its existing workforce.

As a result, Midwest entered into negotiations with the national imaging firm and put a new PSA in place that replicated the compensation structure of their previous arrangement. However, Midwest was unaware that the national firm did not have adequate staffing and had attempted to recruit radiologists from the Group to ensure it could provide enough coverage to meet demand. This led to resistance from the Group’s radiologists – leading them to reject the firm’s recruitment efforts. As a result, the national imaging firm was forced to terminate the PSA with Midwest before it even began.

With no new options available and still without the imaging services it required, Midwest returned to discussions with the Group for providing coverage. The Group requested a completely new compensation structure that shifted from an FTE-based compensation arrangement to a work relative value unit (wRVU) compensation model. Under this new model, Midwest would assume responsibility for billing and collecting for imaging services provided by the Group and pay them a market rate per wRVU.

While this new compensation model resulted in higher costs, the hospital concluded that this was the best choice in order to serve their patient population. This decision was based on the critical need to provide uninterrupted imaging services in the future.

 

Case Study #2: Radiology Coverage for a Regional Hospital in the Northeast

Similar to Midwest’s experience, Northeast Regional Health System (Northeast) faced its own radiology coverage challenges under similarly difficult circumstances, but with different potential solutions.

Northeast includes a 450-bed medical center and several outpatient facilities. Regional Radiology Associates (RRA) is a 20-person radiology group that partnered with Northeast for over 50 years to provide nearly all radiology interpretations at Northeast’s hospital and three separate outpatient facilities on a 24 hours a day, 365 days a year basis. In the fall of 2024, RRA abruptly provided Northeast with 60 days of notice that it would only provide these services Monday through Friday between the hours of 8:00 AM and 4:00 PM – representing a significant reduction in service.

Given Northeast’s reliance on this arrangement, the organization swiftly engaged in negotiations with RRA to provide the required radiology coverage services on a long-term basis. Those attempts failed, however, and there were no other local radiology groups who were credentialed and able to provide the required coverage upon completion of RRA’s 60-day notice period.

As such, the organization was forced to evaluate other options. Northeast quickly secured remote radiology coverage from a national locum tenens agency from 3:00 PM to 11:00 PM seven days per week and remote overnight coverage from a national teleradiology firm from 11:00 PM to 7:00 AM seven days per week. However, hospital and payer credentialing processes were expected to take longer than 60 days to complete, so Northeast was forced to negotiate an interim PSA with RRA to provide transitional diagnostic radiology services for an additional two-month period to bridge the anticipated gap.

This led to the development of three approaches with different timelines:

The Transitional Period Solution

  • RRA received a retention bonus for the continuation of diagnostic radiology coverage services during the two-month transition period. Half of the retention bonus was paid in bi-weekly installments during this two-month period and the other half was paid at the conclusion of the two-month transition period if RRA satisfactorily provided coverage – which included interpretations from 8:00 AM to 11:00 PM, seven days per week, and unrestricted on-call radiology interpretation coverage in the event of defined special circumstances (e.g., emergency fluoroscopy).
  • RRA continued to bill and collect for its professional services and retained all professional collections generated.

The Mid-Term Solution

  • RRA provided day-time coverage Monday through Friday while Northeast contracted with the teleradiology firm to provide coverage evenings, nights, and on weekends.
  • RRA provided unrestricted call coverage for the relatively infrequent special circumstances outlined in the transitional PSA arrangement.

The Long-Term Solution

  • Greater reliance on national teleradiology firms and direct employment.
  • Employment will help to satisfy daytime and unrestricted call coverage requirements. However, it will take time to recruit an adequate number of employed physicians as well as the radiology leadership needed to make this long-term solution viable.
  • National remote teleradiology will provide coverage on evenings, nights, and weekends.

In the meantime, Northeast finds itself in an uneasy situation and is working towards a viable long-term solution in the event RRA is no longer sustainable as a private practice partner.

 

Case Study #3: Radiology Compensation Model within a Safety Net Hospital

Lastly, a Safety Net Hospital (West) located on the West Coast faced unique radiology staffing challenges due to its location and desirable living conditions. West is a 4-hospital health system whose flagship hospital is a 500-bed Level 1 trauma center – the only trauma center in the region. The organization also operates three smaller hospitals in surrounding communities.

Several years ago, West began employing its radiologists to address financial issues that threatened the sustainability of the group as an independent practice. West’s diagnostic radiology volume would indicate a full staffing level of 25 FTEs is needed. However, West operates in a region that is unique due to its popularity with teleradiologists who live in the region but perform overnight reads for East Coast clients to take advantage of the time differential. Therefore, West had experienced difficulty recruiting and retaining diagnostic radiologists who view direct employment as less attractive due to more onsite and on-call requirements, unpredictable work schedules, and less elective work.

After several years of high attrition, West found itself in with only five remaining employed diagnostic radiologists. These five were supported by both interventional and breast radiologists who were pressed into general diagnostic radiology service to keep up with the growing demand. Out of necessity, the remaining five diagnostic radiologists were forced to operate at extremely high productivity levels and were producing wRVUs at twice the 90th percentile level nationally. After a number of failed recruitments and in the face of potentially dire consequences such as the diversion of ER cases to local competitors, losing cancer accreditation, and legal challenges due to delayed diagnoses, leadership quickly negotiated a per wRVU teleradiology agreement with a national vendor for 24/7/365 interpretation coverage on an as-needed basis for up to 100% of its diagnostic radiology needs. This came at a significant cost.

West’s leadership recognized that executing on its preferred long-term strategy could not be accomplished overnight. To account for this, leadership developed a short-term strategy that utilized a new compensation plan for employed physicians that was locally competitive. It also needed to support the recruitment and retention of high performers. West’s employed compensation plan set base salaries at the 75th percentile for new recruits and included a ‘hardship’ retention bonus of $150,000 annually for physicians producing at or above the 80th percentile RVU productivity level. When added to base salary, this resulted in TCC at the 90th percentile nationally. Leadership pitched the ‘hardship’ retention bonus as a temporary measure that will be in place only until enough new diagnostic radiologists can be recruited and productivity expectations return back to a normative market level. West’s recruitment success to the new employed compensation model is still undetermined.

Due to the significant cost associated with the national teleradiology firm coverage arrangement,  leadership viewed it as a temporary backstop while it developed and executed a longer-term radiology workforce strategy. The strategy called for rebuilding the employed diagnostic radiology group over time by emphasizing work-life balance and avoiding excessive productivity.

Knowing this would take several years to execute, the organization’s mid-term strategy included:

  • Protecting interventional radiologists from being utilized in diagnostic radiology roles by securing the services of the national teleradiology firm.
    • Establishing a local hybrid model of both onsite and remote diagnostic radiology work
    • Employing teleradiologists on the East Coast to take advantage of the time zone differential
    • Utilizing the national teleradiology contract during high-demand periods, as necessary for specialty needs, and to perform off-hours reads.Developing a decentralized diagnostic radiology team through:

What’s Next?

While the responses undertaken by these three health systems are instructive, they are also reactionary – which often leads to higher costs and potential compromises in care delivery. Given the current  environment, it’s important that health systems take proactive steps now to avoid potential crisis situations.

Those steps include:

  • Reviewing current radiology coverage arrangements to understand notice provisions and identify potential vulnerabilities inherent in relationships with independent groups.
  • Maintaining communication with radiology partners to ensure that current PSAs are meeting the needs of both parties. If not, be proactive in understanding what needs to change.
  • Consider alternative compensation models as opposed to defaulting to standard coverage agreement terms. Radiology groups are currently running lean by doing more with less providers and want to be rewarded for improving efficiency and productivity.
  • Monitoring the ongoing radiology market to ensure compensation plans and workload expectations for employed radiologists remain market competitive. Employed coverage models are still susceptible to market forces and, even with even a modest amount of attrition, can quickly spiral into larger problems.
  • Executing an overflow coverage contract with a teleradiology firm to maintain diagnostic radiology service levels if attrition of employed radiologists gets too high.
  • Protecting interventional radiologists may be necessary to avoid a secondary crisis where interventional radiology coverage is threatened due to diagnostic radiology demands.
  • Maintaining employment settings and expectations that are attractive to candidates in the face of teleradiology options – which offer recruits more control over their schedule, work from home, and no on-call responsibilities. Health systems should consider how their work settings can be made more attractive to potential candidates. Subspecialty focus, mentorship, and group collegiality are all strategies that can be used to maintain employment as an option for long-term success and stability.

Conclusion

The field of diagnostic radiology is at a critical juncture as organizations face a shortage of imaging professionals. This issue is simultaneously being exacerbated by an aging workforce, evolving technological demands, and increasing patient care needs. To address these staffing challenges, health care organizations are utilizing a number of diverse strategies – including renegotiating partnerships with independent groups, securing national teleradiology firm coverage, and developing internal teleradiology coverage.

It is essential to adopt flexible and forward-thinking staffing models that incorporate both technological advancements and innovative compensation structures as health systems navigate unprecedented workforce challenges. By fostering collaboration, embracing alternative coverage solutions, and prioritizing competitive retention and recruitment strategies, health care organizations can better position themselves to meet the rising demand for diagnostic imaging services and ensure sustainable, high-quality patient care in the years to come.


VIDEO | Determine the right number and type of physicians needed in a given market

February 25, 2025

Take a data-driven approach to workforce planning! Watch our new video for the latest insights.


Struggling to balance physician supply with patient demand in the communities you serve?

An imbalance often results in hiring the wrong number and type of providers in a given market – which can lead to workforce inefficiencies, increased costs, and issues meeting patient care needs.

Leverage market-specific data to find the right strategy!

SullivanCotter’s Mark Ryberg discusses how organizations can review and refine their physician workforce strategy by analyzing local demand, comparing it to existing provider supply, and identifying potential staffing gaps.

Access the data you need!


Explore our Provider Needs Assessment solution to analyze your local market’s physician supply and demand, identify service delivery gaps, and more!

Learn more >

VIDEO | How can APPs help to drive greater patient access?

February 13, 2025

Bolster your APP workforce strategy!

Learn more from our ongoing video series.


The demand for care is at an all-time high.

Is your organization doing all it can to maintain and even increase patient access? Advanced practice providers are critical in achieving these goals!

Tune into our latest video in which Hadley Powless discusses how top-of-license practice can help organizations bridge the gap between patient access and demand.

Looking for help?

We’re experts in developing strategic models of care to effectively integrate and engage this growing workforce.

Learn more about how we can help you enhance the way APPs are utilized across your organization.

View our services >

PODCAST | Value-Based Care: Latest Trends and Developments

By 2030, the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services' goal is to have 100% of traditional Medicare beneficiaries in a relationship with accountability for quality and total cost of care.

Is your organization set up for success?

Listen now >

Health care organizations nationwide continue to navigate the shift from volume to value-based care. While improving clinical operations and performance to help support important quality and population health management initiatives remains a top priority, many are still finding it difficult to navigate complex regulatory requirements, manage changes in reimbursement, and align physician compensation more closely with value-based incentives.

Tune into this AHLA-sponsored podcast for the latest guidance from our experts!

SullivanCotter’s Rob Moss sat down with Maggie Martin, Chief Legal Officer at the Oklahoma Hospital Association, to explore how organizations can:

  • Address any potential implications of CMS’ goal
  • Compensate physicians more effectively in the transition from volume to value
  • Align performance metrics with incentives with how they’re being reimbursed by payers


Forbes | What is the key to health care succession planning?

February 6, 2025

Early Strategizing and Flexibility are Key to Health Care Succession Planning

The health care industry is experiencing a critical gap in expertise as operations grow more complex and executives retire or step away.


As exits trend up, succession planning is a pressing challenge that many leading health systems in the U.S. are struggling to address.

Whether a change among top leadership roles is planned or unexpected, its impact on the rest of the organization—and how the strategy for the next generation of leadership plays out—can have far-reaching effects on a system’s financial performance, employee retention and care delivery.

There are three important considerations that organizations should take into account as they look to minimize disruption before, during, and after key leadership transitions.

Recently featured in Forbes, SullivanCotter’s President and CEO, Ted Chien, highlights care organizations must:

  • Start planning three to five years early
  • Hire future leaders now
  • Weigh the merits of internal verus external hires

Read full article >