Since our start in late 2016, interim management and coaching have been part of our core services. Our tag line “Today’s Solutions, Tomorrow’s Leaders” encapsulates what we offer to health systems. We can fill the leadership gap today, help develop leaders to be ready for future opportunities, and support your search effort for permanent candidates.

We have provided interim IT leaders for both large and small health systems across the country over the past 7 years and provided coaching support to several internal interims as they took on broader responsibilities.  Some of our most recent engagements include:

• Interim CIO at regional health system including an IT assessment
• Interim CMIO at community health system focused on EMR optimization, workflows and clinician adoption
• Interim Chief Technology Executive at a national specialty provider organization focused on infrastructure stability and reliability issues
• Interim VP Applications at regional health system responsible for all applications over an extended multi-year time period

Typically, the interim duration is 6 months though we will contract for shorter. We focus on doing the interim work while supporting the search process in any way required to find a permanent person. That may mean help with sourcing, resume review, interviews, and serving on the search committee – all in partnership with the selected search firm or the internal HR recruiters.

We are seeing several trends in the industry:

• An increase in internal interims reflects that succession planning is happening, a good thing! From experience we know that internal interims who step up to a new, much broader, and more strategic role may need support to be truly effective as an interim. Our advisors have decades of experience in all the senior health IT leadership roles. We can help an internal interim by serving as a senior advisor or coach during the transition. We can also do an assessment of existing internal candidates and create coaching plans to prepare them for the next level of leadership.
• Organizations often look for an external perspective as well as an IT assessment to be done during the leadership transition period. Our advisors bring that external view and experience from many other healthcare organizations. Add to that the big firm consulting experience of several advisors makes us the perfect solution.
• Organizations want IT leaders onsite again even if the staff is primarily remote or hybrid. According to a story in the Wall Street Journal October 5, more companies are requiring new CIOs and chief technology officers to work in the office, leading to a slowdown in hiring for tech leaders. If you are facing a longer recruitment cycle than expected, we can help. We have advisors in every region of the country ready for onsite work or whatever type arrangement is best for your organization.
• With increased financial and budget constraints bringing in an interim leader may be considered too costly for your organization. We offer fractional interims tailored to your specific needs.
• Increased focus on digital health and transformation means IT leadership roles are expanding and changing. Traditional more operationally focused leaders may be replaced creating a gap period requiring interim management before a new leader is hired.
• And finally, the natural cycle of next generation leaders taking over as leaders retire. Back to the first trend, if you don’t have a succession plan when your IT leaders retire, we can help fill the gap.

When your organization has a critical IT leadership gap, turn to StarBridge Advisors. We can make available to you fully vetted, world-class healthcare IT executives, inclusive of CIOs, CISOs, CMIOs, CNIOs, CTOs, and others. Our advisors all come from health system backgrounds and have a wealth of knowledge and experience which often stretches far beyond the provider space.

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Talent Shortage? Great Resignation? Interim Leaders Can Help