Only 13% of Healthcare CEOs are Women Heres What These Companies Are Doing Right

Only 13% of Healthcare CEOs are Women Heres What These Companies Are Doing Right While women make up over 70 percent of the healthcare workforce, theyre significantly underrepresented in senior leadership positions.In fact, according to a report by consulting firm Oliver Wyman, just 30 percent of C-suite members and a meager 13 percent of CEOs in the healthcare industry are women. Thats largely because, on average, it takes women three to five years longer to achieve such titles.Despite the grim statistics, however, tzu siche are some women who are shattering the glass ceiling across all sectors of the healthcare system. These women are responsible for developing policy, leading change in their fields and guiding healthcare delivery improvement.Top 25 Women in HealthcareHere are the top 25 women in the healthcare industry, according to Modern Healthcares Leaders biennial program.1. Kathy Lancaster Executive vice president and chief financial officer, imperator Foundation Health Pl an and HospitalsBeyond serving as the executive sponsor of Kaisers Finance Shared Services Women in Leadership program, Kathy Lancaster has a history of aligning financial operations across Kaisers network from managing a $4.4 billion bond issuance used to help finance a long-term capital plan to orchestrating a deal with energy providers to ensure that their health system is carbon-neutral by 2020.2. Karen Lynch Executive vice president, CVS HealthKaren Lynch is leading CVS Health-Aetna through its recent combination with CVS Health, helping Aetna to grow its government Medicare Advantage membership and premiums by eight percent by bringing simpler, more affordable and more responsive practices to consumers.3. Susan Sweeney President and head, U.S. Commercial, Bristol-Myers SquibbOn top of being actively involved in the companys Network of Women program, Susan Sweeney helms one of the fruchtwein profitable divisions at Bristol-Myers Squibb the biopharma division. The division generates 60 percent of the companys business, totaling nearly $12 billion. In zu sichbeibei leadership position, Sweeney oversaw the growth of key drugs such as blood thinners and antipsychotic medications, and she advocated for real-world data and its application in drug development.4. Amy Perry CEO, hospital division, Atlantic Health SystemAmy Perry has worked hard to align the New Jersey health systems strategic and financial properties, forging a collaboration with MedExpress to add healthcare access points like urgent-care centers. She also helped to bring employees across various New Jersey health systems togetzu sich under one insurance plan as an executive on the Health Transformation Consortium, as well promoted female executives at Atlantic Health hospitals.5. Rebecca Madsen Chief Consumer Officer, UnitedHealthcareAlso named a Woman Worth Watching by Diversity Journal in 2018, Madsen launched a groundbreaking program that helps members find lower-costing drugs over 20% of the time. During her nearly 20 years at the company, shes held a variety of leadership position across the verticals of strategy, data and analytics, product development, marketing and operations.6. Dr. Redonda Miller President, Johns Hopkins HospitalOn top of promoting gender diversity with her more-than-half-female team, Dr. Redonda Miller first became the president of Johns Hopkins Hospital in Baltimore in 2016, and shes had quite the impact thus far. Since she took the lead, shes created care-coordination bundles,overseen the launch of a high-value care committee, bolstered employee engagement and, as such, patient satisfaction, and shes even reduced the prescribing of opioids and increased the prescribing of naloxone.7. Andrea Walsh President and CEO, HealthPartnersAndrea Walsh has been at the helm of HealthPartners since 2017, though shes been part of the senior leadership team for more than two decades. Since she became president and CEO, however, shes expanded the healt h systems community outreach, attracting more than 300,000 new patients. This means that she has increased health plan membership by 10 percent, and shes now expanding access to mental healthcare, as well.8. Seema Verma Administrator, CMSSince March 2017, Seema Verma has led CMS, pursuing new policies, pushing for hospital price transparency and modifications to other pay models, as well as issuing guidance to states on getting waivers approved for Medicaid work requirements, which has happened for seven states thus far.9. Nancy Howell Agee President and CEO, Carilion ClinicNancy Agee has been a vocal voice for women in healthcare. She has served as chair of the American Hospital Associations mainmainboard of trustees and is a leading voice in her home state of Virginia for expanding Medicaid. Shes also a long-time mentor of female leaders at Carilion Clinic, where half of the leadership team are women.10. Madeline Bell President and CEO, Childrens Hospital of PhiladelphiaMadelin e Bell has been working for the Childrens Hospital of Philadelphia for more than three decades she began her career there as a nurse, and shes led the organization since 2015. Shes responsible for leading a number of career development programs, including the creation of the employee-based Womens Resource Group that have contributed to the hospitals nearly 80-percent female workforce.11.Mary Boosalis President and CEO, Premier HealthMary Boosalis, who is Premier Healths first female CEO in the health systems 23-year history, has spearheaded a number of successful iniatitves. For one, she helped lead the push to address the opiod epidemic, including by creating a website, www.opioidassist.com, to provide the public with information about drug dependency.12. Debra Canales Executive vice president and chief administrative officer, Providence St. Joseph HealthDebra Canales has worked for Providence St. Joseph Health since 2014, focusing on improving provider engagement. For example, after implementing new programs to address work-life balance and a NotHere campaign in response to MeToo, in 2017, the health system witnessed better engagement scores and lower turnover.13. Dr. Mandy Cohen Secretary, North Carolina Department of Health and Human ServicesBeyond serving as secretary for the North Carolina Department of Health and Human Services, Dr. Mandy Cohen has secured $90 million in funding for the states opiod prevention plan, working with stakeholders on Medicaid transformation and Early Childhood Action plans, as well as leading efforts to integrate behavioral and physical health in North Carolinas Medicaid program. Under her leadership, the North Carolina Department of Health and Human Services even enacted a mentoring program to help place female employees in positions in which they can grow today 42 percent of her leadership team is female talent.14. Tina Freese Decker President and CEO, Spectrum HealthTina Freese Decker has held a number of roles at Sp ectrum Health, from the director of planning to the executive vice president to the COO to, now, CEO. During her tenure as COO, shes made quite an impact, most notably overseeing a $300 million care redesign and EHR implentation that cut per admission expenses by 70 percent. Shes also responsible for adding five women to C-suite positions.15. Cynthia Hundorfean President and CEO, Allegheny Health NetworkCynthia Hundorfean has been with Allegheny Health Network since 2016, when the health system was losing $40 million per year. Her one-year turnaround plan, however, lead to three straight positive quarters in 2018, and she even launched a $1 billion capital expansion campaign. On top of all of this, she also instituted local mentoring programs for women, as a member of the Womens Health Activist Movement, a Pittsburgh-based advocacy group, and she increased the hiring of female executives.16. Laura Kaiser President and CEO, SSM Health CareLaura Kaiser has a number of successes unde r her belt. She led a strategic plan the resulted in SSM Health Care saving $150 million in 2018, she implemented best practices to tackle the opioid crisis, and she expanded the health systems reach, for examples.17. Dr. Anne Klibanski Chief academic officer, Partners HealthCare SystemDr. Anne Klibanski has saved Partners HealthCare System millions. On top of overseeing $1.7 billion in annual research funding at the health system, shes spearheaded efforts to save it $10 million annually in radiology programs, as well as funded efforts for one of the countrys largest biobanks. She also helps women both by training post-doctoral fellows, most of whom are women, and through her scholarship program at Massachusetts General Hospital to help women researchers stay in the industry despite childcare issues.18. Patricia Maryland President and CEO, Ascension HealthcareFor Ascensions expansive care settings, totaling more than 2,600 sites in 21 states, Patricia Maryland oversees operations. She helped the health system shift to a population health focus, shes been spearheading efforts to focus on social determinants, and shes also advanced diversity within the workforce through various programs shes created.19. Dr. Barbara McAneny President, American Medical AssociationBefore serving as president of the American Medical Association, Dr. Barbara McAneny has served on the physician groups board since 2010 as chair from 2015 to 2016 is a founding member and current board chair of the National Cancer Care Alliance, and shes founded the New Mexico Cancer Center. Shes been rather influential in the industry, as shes implemented alternative payment models for a coalition of cancer care providers.20. Dr. Janice Nevin President and CEO, Christiana Care Health SystemDr. Janice Nevin continues to meet and exceed goals for the Christiana Care Health System. For one, shes responsible for overseeing the expansion of the health systems access points, including more virtual care. Shes also launched a Center for Provider Wellbeing to address clinician burnout, and shes helped integrate medical and behavioral health data in real-time through her information technology program that won her the John M. Eisenberg Patient Safety and Quality Award in 2016.21. Candice Saunders President and CEO, WellStar Health SystemCandice Saunders was named CEO of WellStar Health System in 2015 (the health systems first female CEO), though she began her career with the health system in 2007 as president of the systems flagship hospital in Marietta, Georgia. Today, she leads 11 hospitals and more than 250 additional care sites, on top of implementing performance-improvement plans for employees and overseeing acquisitions, such as the 2016 acquisition of five Tenet Healthcare Corp. hospitals, which doubled WellStars presence in the Atlanta region.22. Ninfa Saunders President and CEO, Navicent HealthNinfa Saunders has a wealth of successes attached to her name. Shes expanded Navi cents reach in Georgia, has launched telehealth programs for rural communities in the area, has led efforts to address the opioid epidemic and has helped the health system to push for gender equity.23. Dr. Joanne Smith President and CEO, Shirley Ryan AbilityLabDr. Joanne Smith, president and CEO of Shirley Ryan AbilityLab, which serves more than 50,000 patients annually, has earned her position as a top female leader in health care. As a winner of the Women of Concern Humanitarian Award, shes overseen the construction of the rehab hospitals new facility, which marries clinical and research capabilities today, inpatient admissions are up 20 percent since the new facility opened in 2017 under her watch.24. Johnese Spisso President, UCLA HealthJohnese Spisso took the role of president at UCLA Health in 2016, and shes since made her mark. Shes pushed to redesign care, to improve coordination across disciplines and to focus on innovation in biomedical science. On top of that, shes hire d five female senior leaders, brought three female faculty chairs to the UCLA and mentored two women who went on to achieve president and CEO positions in 2018.25. Paula Steiner President and CEO, Health Care Service Corp.Under Paula Steiners leadership, Health Care Service Corp. has seen substantial financial growth. Shes launched a personalized approach to help patients manage their illness, which led to a 93 percent rate of interaction with high-cost patients, for example.26. Pamela Sutton-Wallace CEO, University of Virginia Medical CenterPamela Sutton-Wallace brings her background in political science to the health care industry, leading clinical redesigns, improving patient care, creating a statewide pediatric network and expanding the University of Virginia Medical Centers telemedicine services.--AnnaMarie Houlis is a feminist, a freelance journalist and an adventure aficionado with an affinity for impulsive solo travel. She spends her days writing about womens empowerment f rom around the world. You can follow her work on her blog, HerReport.org, and follow her journeys on Instagram her_report,Twitterherreportand Facebook.