Healthcare Industry Consolidation: Talent Acquisition Impact

M&A activity among healthcare organizations -- payer, provider, and healthcare solutions -- is surging, with no end in sight. I wanted to share a few observations from my perspective as an executive search consultant in this space. What we're seeing is both somewhat predictable and in other cases, counter-intuitive: 

• High performers, specifically those with expertise in Value-Based Care, Digital Health, Medicare, and Population Health, are more highly sought after than ever. Conventional wisdom would indicate that consolidation leads to more displaced executives and fewer positions as organizations realize the resulting synergies. And, indeed, as merged organizations realign their C-Suites, there has been a reduction in total available "seats at the table" among traditional payer & provider organizations.

However, our clients have become much more intensely focused on making sure that those who occupy those seats are leaders with a track record of driving industry transformation. Additionally, the surge in investment capital into the healthcare technology sector has resulted in a comparable increase in start-ups & pre-IPO organizations seeking impactful leaders. As a result, there are many attractive opportunities and simply not enough talented leaders to fill them.

• Traditional payer & provider leaders, in some cases, are being lured away by the aforementioned explosive growth in the healthcare technology/solutions space. As such, C-Suite vacancies are emerging among more staid healthcare organizations.

• Relocation requirements are in flux. As organizations map out their paths to reopening offices and determining who will need to be where, many of our client organizations are taking a more relaxed approach to requiring complete relocations. In some cases, our clients have allowed the relocation question to be pushed out to 2022, while in others, they have completely removed the requirement. This means that candidates' previous geographic limitations are less of a factor and, therefore, hiring organizations can consider a broader talent pool.

• Even the most "risk-averse" payer & provider organizations are finally realizing the need to embrace transformation. Most of these organizations enjoy overwhelming, regional market share and have cultures that embrace consensus & the status quo. But, the pandemic finally brought to light the need for organizations to be more nimble, creative, and ultimately, more open to innovation & payer/provider integration and alignment. This has created another shift in the C-Suite skill sets required among these organizations that will likely have industry-wide impact.

As always, I'd appreciate your thoughts and feedback. Is what I'm seeing consistent with your perspective or have I missed something? Either way, please don't hesitate to reach out if I can ever be of potential assistance.

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