Hospice Executive Director / Administrator Recruiters
Healthcare Headhunters recruits healthcare professionals for employers. No upfront fee. You pay only if you hire.
This is what we do all day: recruit healthcare professionals.
Hire a hospice executive director who can lead daily operations while addressing CoPs, CAP exposure, and survey findings.
No upfront fee. You pay only if you hire.
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- Hospice Administrator
- General Manager (Hospice)
What does this hire really come down to?
A hospice executive director makes decisions that affect care delivery, payroll, referrals, documentation, and agency oversight. The right leader can review census movement, question long stays, lead the interdisciplinary group, and act on a chart trend before it becomes a survey concern.
We recruit permanent contingency hires with no upfront fee. You pay only if you hire.
This role is not simply a senior clinical job. The administrator must connect what happens in a patient record with what the agency reports, bills, and reviews. Ask what they do when a census report rises but referrals produce patients whose eligibility or care needs do not match the agency’s service model.
Look for judgment under competing pressures. A candidate may need to respond to a nurse vacancy, a delayed certification, a CAP concern, and a referral partner’s question in the same week. Ask which facts they review first, who they bring into the discussion, and what they document afterward.
What do we check before you see anyone?
Hospice CoPs: Ask the candidate to describe a CoP-related finding they inherited or identified. What policy, record review, staff education, or follow-up changed? We screen for experience with the federal hospice Conditions of Participation, not vague familiarity with compliance. CAP management: Ask how they monitored the aggregate CAP and what reports they reviewed with finance or clinical leaders.
- A strong answer addresses census mix, length of stay, projections, and actions taken before financial exposure grew.
- Census and length of stay: Ask how they distinguish healthy referral growth from a pattern needing review. They should explain how they examined referral sources, live discharges, long stays, documentation, and clinical oversight without treating census as the only scorecard.
- Survey readiness: Ask who owned mock reviews, record audits, corrective-action work, and staff preparation. We ask for their role during state or federal visits and how they tracked open items after surveyors left.
- Interdisciplinary leadership: Ask how they run or review interdisciplinary group meetings involving physicians, nurses, social workers, chaplains, and other team members. Listen for decisions about care plans, unresolved documentation, and accountability between meetings.
- Documentation and quality reporting: Ask how they found late, incomplete, or inconsistent records and who reviewed corrections. The candidate should connect chart oversight with accurate reporting and billing, while respecting clinical leadership’s role.
These are recruiting discussions about experience and stated credentials, not a substitute for clinical assessment. Your organization completes formal credentialing, license and privilege checks, and the hiring decision.
Where do we find them, and why would they move?
We commonly approach hospice executive directors, administrators, and directors of patient care services who are ready to step into broader agency leadership. A director of patient care services may bring strong clinical command but still need proven exposure to CAP reporting, financial reviews, referrals, and survey leadership.
People may consider a move when authority is unclear, growth plans do not match available staff, or they want a larger operating remit. Others seek a role closer to home or one where ownership and clinical leaders agree on decision rights. We test the reason for moving rather than assuming it.
Which mistakes stall the search?
A common mistake is hiring a home health leader based on general post-acute experience without testing knowledge of the hospice benefit, CoPs, CAP, and hospice survey work. Another is selecting the largest census-growth story without asking how the candidate reviewed length of stay, documentation, live discharges, and referral quality.
Leaving clinical leaders out of final interviews, then discovering the administrator’s meeting style does not work with the interdisciplinary group.
How would we run the search for this opening?
Tell us whether the immediate concern is CAP exposure, survey follow-up, census stability, referral development, documentation, or leadership turnover. We screen work history, credentials, and role fit through concrete questions. You complete your own credentialing, reference process, and clinical assessment.
Define the agency issue
We use that problem to shape the interview plan and candidate brief.
Test the operating record
We ask what reports they reviewed, how they handled findings, and what authority they held over staff, budgets, and corrective actions.
Complete your assessment
Final interviews should include the people who will work with the administrator on finance, patient care, quality, and referrals.
Tell us the role and setting. We will discuss the work and terms with you before a search begins. There is no fixed shortlist or placement promise.
What happens next
- The initial conversation clarifies the work, location and search terms.
- Ivan or a senior team member will reach out soon.
- When we recommend someone, you get reasons for fit and open questions to assess. We support interviews and offer discussions.
- Fees.
- No upfront fee. Pay only if you hire, under the signed agreement.
- Exclusivity.
- Set out in the signed client agreement.
- Confidentiality.
- We agree the brief before outreach. This is not a promise of absolute anonymity.
- No hire.
- No hire means no fee on standard searches.
Where this search connects
Post-Acute, Senior Living & Home-Based Care Leadership
SpecialtySkilled Nursing & Post-Acute Care
SettingSenior Living (Assisted Living, Memory Care, CCRC)
SettingHome Health & Hospice
SettingPE-Backed Healthcare Platforms
SettingNursing Home Administrator (NHA)
Related roleAssistant Director of Nursing (ADON)
Related roleMDS Coordinator
Related roleRegional Nurse Consultant
Related roleNational median annual wage. SOC 11-9111, Medical and Health Services Managers.
BLS reports Medical and Health Services Managers as one occupation. It does not publish a separate estimate for Hospice Executive Director / Administrator, its setting or its engagement terms.
Source: U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, OEWS, 2025-05, released 2026-05-15. View source. See the full guide.
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Do candidates need hospice experience?
For most searches, direct hospice leadership experience is the strongest fit because the role covers hospice CoPs, CAP management, and survey readiness. A candidate from another setting needs a credible record of learning the hospice benefit and leading comparable oversight work.
Should we consider a director of patient care services?
Yes, if the person has already taken on agency-wide decisions beyond clinical supervision. Ask about financial reports, CAP monitoring, referral relationships, survey response, and responsibility for operational outcomes.
How do you evaluate state-specific administrator rules?
State rules can differ, and the employer confirms what applies to its agency and location. We screen the candidate’s stated licenses, credentials, work history, and experience, then present details for your review.
How should we assess a counteroffer for a hospice administrator candidate?
Ask why they started considering a move before discussing compensation alone. If the issue involves authority, leadership conflict, commute, or stalled growth, a counteroffer may not address it.
What are your fee and replacement terms?
This is a permanent contingency search. No upfront fee. You pay only if you hire. We offer a candidate replacement guarantee on standard search agreements. The applicable period and exact terms are set out in the signed client recruiting agreement.
What should you send us about this role?
Send us the role, where the person will work and what needs to change with this hire. We will ask about the work, not just the title. Share any license or schedule limits that could rule someone out before we begin the search.
If you need a hospice administrator who can discuss the numbers, records, staff decisions, and survey work behind the title, Healthcare Headhunters can start the conversation. For temporary or other needs, describe the arrangement so we can discuss whether we can help.
No upfront fee. You pay only if you hire. We offer a candidate replacement guarantee on standard search agreements. The applicable period and exact terms are set out in the signed client recruiting agreement.
What happens next
- The initial conversation clarifies the work, location and search terms.
- Ivan or a senior team member will reach out soon.
- When we recommend someone, you get reasons for fit and open questions to assess. We support interviews and offer discussions.
- Fees.
- No upfront fee. Pay only if you hire, under the signed agreement.
- Exclusivity.
- Set out in the signed client agreement.
- Confidentiality.
- We agree the brief before outreach. This is not a promise of absolute anonymity.
- No hire.
- No hire means no fee on standard searches.
Which other positions in this family should you consider?
Clinical Manager, Home Health · Hospice Director of Patient Care Services
What happens beyond the introduction?
We explain our recommendation in writing and flag what your team still needs to assess. We gather interview feedback, resolve practical questions and support offer discussions. The goal is the right person for the work, not simply a shortlist.
Read the full six-step search process · Compare recruiting models
How long will it take to see a short list?
That depends on the job, schedule, available people, and what your employer can offer. We discuss those constraints before outreach and update you as candidates respond. We do not promise a fixed shortlist date. We check the job brief before arranging interviews. Tell us which parts of the role you can change.
What do we not do in a standard permanent search?
We do not bill standard contingency search by the hour or simply repost your job. Temporary coverage is a separate arrangement. Any retainer or different engagement must be agreed, not assumed. Tell us early if you need coverage while the permanent search runs.