INDUSTRIES
Healthcare and life sciences leadership search
Thin margins, Medicaid cuts, workforce shortages and AI are all landing on healthcare leaders at once. Here's what makes each leadership search hard right now, what to look for, and what to watch out for.
The market right now
- (Kaufman Hall, June 2026)
- (KFF, July 2025)
- (Becker's Hospital Review citing Challenger, Gray & Christmas, February and May 2026)
- (NSI Nursing Solutions, March 2026)
- (BLS, August 2026)
Leadership roles we recruit
In demand now
- Chief AI Officer
- Chief Digital and Information Officer
- Chief Nurse Executive and Chief Advanced Practice Officer
- Director of Value-Based Care
- Director of Payer Contracting
- CISO
- CMIO and Director of Clinical Informatics
- Chief Pharmacy Officer
Role guides
CEO and Administrator
- Why it's hard right now
- Exits are rising, and one-third of new hospital CEOs in the first half of 2025 were interim, against 9% in prior years. (PSQH citing Challenger, Gray & Christmas, August 2025)
- What to look for
- A turnaround or margin record with real P&L ownership. Experience with payer-mix shifts. Affiliation and joint venture deals. Physician alignment. FACHE and an MHA or MBA are typical.
- Watch out for
- System-office strategists who never owned a P&L. Candidates who can't quote margin, days cash on hand or labor cost per adjusted discharge. Serial short tenures without clear reasons.
Chief Medical Officer
- Why it's hard right now
- 41.9% of physicians reported burnout in 2025 (American Medical Association via Fierce Healthcare, April 2026), fewer physicians are choosing leadership paths, and AAMC projects a shortage of up to 86,000 physicians by 2036. (AAMC, March 2024)
- What to look for
- Board certification and recent clinical credibility. CPE, MMM or MBA. Quality outcomes they personally moved. Peer review and credentialing. Utilization management. Value-based care. AI governance.
- Watch out for
- A "physician champion" title with no budget or direct reports. Open conflict with the medical staff.
Chief Nursing Officer and Director of Nursing
- Why it's hard right now
- 23% of nurse leaders intend to leave their roles and another 23% might, and finance and budgeting ranks as their top struggle. (AONL, 2025)
- What to look for
- RN with a BSN, usually an MSN or DNP. NE-BC or NEA-BC. Magnet experience. Staffing-model redesign such as virtual nursing and float pools. Documented cuts in agency spend and first-year RN turnover. CMS survey experience for Director of Nursing roles.
- Watch out for
- Can't quote hours per patient day or agency spend. High turnover on their past teams. Unresolved survey deficiencies.
VP of Clinical Operations
- Why it's hard right now
- Drug and labor costs are driving expense growth (Kaufman Hall, June 2026), and CMS's mandatory TEAM bundled-payment model began January 1, 2026 at 716 hospitals. (CMS, September 2026)
- What to look for
- Multi-site P&L ownership. Throughput results such as length of stay, operating room use and emergency department boarding. Lean or Six Sigma. In life sciences, the title means clinical trial execution: CRO oversight and good clinical practice.
- Watch out for
- Operators who have only consulted. Project managers with no people leadership.
Director of Revenue Cycle
- Why it's hard right now
- 41% of providers report denial rates above 10%, and 43% say they're understaffed (Experian via Fierce Healthcare, September 2025). Denials remain the top revenue cycle concern. (HFMA, July 2026)
- What to look for
- CRCR, CRCE or CPC. Before-and-after numbers on denial rate, net collection rate, days in accounts receivable and cost to collect. Experience managing outsourcing and automation vendors.
- Watch out for
- Front-end-only or back-end-only experience. Gains that came from one-time cleanups.
Director of Practice Operations and Practice Manager
- Why it's hard right now
- 84% of medical practices report higher costs in 2026, about 11% on average, and 80% say Medicare pays below their cost. (MGMA, June 2026)
- What to look for
- CMPE or FACMPE. wRVU and scheduling-template management. Medical assistant staffing. Rollout of ambient AI scribes.
- Watch out for
- Never owned a budget. Multi-site claims with no KPIs.
- Pay data
- The BLS median for medical and health services managers is $123,860 (May 2025).
VP and Director of Regulatory Affairs
- Why it's hard right now
- FDA cut about 3,500 staff, roughly 20% of its workforce (PharmaVoice, April 2025), making agency interactions less predictable.
- What to look for
- RAC. Approvals they led for your product type, such as NDA, BLA, 510(k), PMA or De Novo. Leading FDA meetings. A parallel EU strategy.
- Watch out for
- Submissions or publishing operations experience only. Never the lead contact with the agency.
- Pay data
- US regulatory professionals at director to VP level averaged $293,251 in total compensation, and RAC holders earned 12% more. (RAPS, July 2024)
Director of Quality and Compliance
- Why it's hard right now
- The Department of Justice recovered $5.7 billion from healthcare under the False Claims Act in FY2025, with a record 1,297 whistleblower cases filed. (Healthcare Dive, January 2026)
- What to look for
- CHC or CHPC for compliance. CPHQ for quality. Board reporting. Billing, coding and Medicare Advantage risk-adjustment audits.
- Watch out for
- No independent access to the board. Policies written but no investigations run. Quality measures reported but never moved.
- Pay data
- The median total compensation for healthcare chief compliance officers is $155,000, and CHC holders average $202,910. (HCCA, August 2024)
CIO and Head of Health IT
- Why it's hard right now
- 710 large healthcare data breaches affecting 61.6 million people were reported in 2025. (HIPAA Journal, February 2026)
- What to look for
- CHCIO. EHR consolidation or migration. Cyber incident response leadership. AI governance. Vendor contract management.
- Watch out for
- An infrastructure-only background. Never handled an incident. EHR projects that went over budget.
How TAP runs this search
We start with an intake that goes deeper than the job description, then map who is doing this job today at companies like yours, with licensure and certification checked as part of our interviews. Every candidate is interviewed in depth before you meet them, and you get a private website on each finalist: interview video, a rating on each of your requirements, compensation, timing and why we recommend them. Our goal is your hire from the first two candidates we present.
Hiring for one of these roles, or want a second opinion on how to recruit for it?
Across our careers, we've recruited for roles like these. Tell us what you're hiring for and we'll share what we'd look out for, whether or not you start a search with us.
Frequently asked questions
- Yes. We verify licensure and board certification as part of our interviews, and each candidate website covers credentials, start timing and readiness for your credentialing process.
- Most of our searches take 4 to 10 weeks, depending on the role and the market. Clinical roles can take longer when credentialing is involved.
- 25% of the new leader's first-year compensation. On most packages, an engagement fee paid at the start is credited toward it, and the placement fee is invoiced on your new leader's start date. See the full fee guide.
Sources
- Kaufman Hall, National Hospital Flash Report, June 2026: https://www.kaufmanhall.com/sites/default/files/2026-06/KH-NHFR_Report-April-2026-Metrics.pdf
- KFF, CBO Medicaid estimates, July 2025: https://www.kff.org/medicaid/allocating-cbos-estimates-of-federal-medicaid-spending-reductions-across-the-states-enacted-reconciliation-package/
- Becker's Hospital Review, 2025 CEO exits, February 2026: https://www.beckershospitalreview.com/hospital-executive-moves/hospital-ceo-exits-climbed-7-in-2025-7-things-to-know/
- Becker's Hospital Review, Q1 2026 CEO turnover, May 2026: https://www.beckershospitalreview.com/hospital-executive-moves/hospital-ceo-turnover-rises-32-year-over-year-6-things-to-know/
- NSI Nursing Solutions, 2026 National Health Care Retention Report, March 2026: https://www.nsinursingsolutions.com/documents/library/nsi_national_health_care_retention_report.pdf
- BLS Occupational Outlook Handbook, medical and health services managers: https://www.bls.gov/ooh/management/medical-and-health-services-managers.htm
- PSQH, hospital CEO turnover, August 2025: https://www.psqh.com/news/hospital-ceo-turnover-is-up-halfway-through-2025/
- Fierce Healthcare, physician burnout, April 2026: https://www.fiercehealthcare.com/providers/physician-burnout-falls-third-year-2025-419-american-medical-association
- AAMC, physician shortage projections, March 2024: https://www.aamc.org/news/press-releases/new-aamc-report-shows-continuing-projected-physician-shortage
- AONL, Workforce Compendium, 2025: https://www.aonl.org/system/files/media/file/2025/10/AONL_WorkforceCompendium_LEA.pdf
- CMS, TEAM model: https://www.cms.gov/priorities/innovation/innovation-models/team-model
- Fierce Healthcare, claims denials study, September 2025: https://www.fiercehealthcare.com/providers/experian-study-providers-say-claims-denials-continue-rise
- HFMA, 2026 Revenue Cycle Benchmark Report, July 2026: https://www.hfma.org/revenue-cycle/2026-revenue-cycle-benchmark-report-where-leading-providers-are-adapting-and-where-theyre-struggling/
- MGMA, operating costs, June 2026: https://www.mgma.com/mgma-stat/operating-costs-keep-climbing-for-medical-practices-in-2026
- PharmaVoice, FDA job cuts, April 2025: https://www.pharmavoice.com/news/fda-job-cuts-drug-development-pharma/746426/
- RAPS, 2024 Scope of Practice Report executive summary, July 2024: https://47530916.fs1.hubspotusercontent-na1.net/hubfs/47530916/Reports/2024%20RAPS%20Scope%20of%20Practice%20Report%20-%20Executive%20Summary%20(1).pdf
- Healthcare Dive, False Claims Act recoveries, January 2026: https://www.healthcaredive.com/news/justice-department-recovered-record-57-billion-2025-healthcare-false-claims/810074/
- HCCA, 2024 salary survey, August 2024: https://assets.hcca-info.org/Portals/0/PDFs/Resources/Surveys/hcca-2024-salary-survey-report.pdf
- HIPAA Journal, 2025 healthcare data breach report, February 2026: https://www.hipaajournal.com/2025-healthcare-data-breach-report/
Last reviewed September 2026