Chief Physician Executive / President, Medical Group 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 physician executive who can lead medical staff decisions, explain financial tradeoffs, and use the authority your organization grants.
No postings. No stacks of resumes. No chasing. You interview a short list.
No upfront fee. You pay only if you hire.
Need someone now? Call 305-306-4829.
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What happens next
- We review your role, responsibilities and location.
- Ivan or a senior team member will reach out soon.
- You meet a focused shortlist when qualified candidates fit the agreed search.
- 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.
- Chief Medical Officer
- Chief Clinical Officer
- Chief Physician Executive
- Senior Vice President of Medical Affairs
- Vice President of Medical Affairs
- Medical Group President
- Chief Quality Officer
What does an open seat cost you every week?
An open role costs you more than the recruiting fee. Someone covers the work, waits for care, or stops a service. We ask what is falling behind and who is carrying it. Use your own figures to compare the cost of waiting with the cost of hiring.
The seat is costing you every week.
Overtime, diverted patients, a stretched team and a schedule held together by favors.
The posting brought the wrong people.
Applicants arrive, but the person who has done this exact work is employed and not looking.
You are the one chasing.
Screening calls, no-shows and follow-ups land on the desk of someone with a facility to run.
What does this hire really come down to?
Your physician leaders may agree in meetings and still ignore the decision once they return to clinic. We ask where this executive can make a decision and where they must win agreement. Then we look for someone who has handled those disagreements with practicing physicians.
A department chair may be respected by peers yet have limited financial authority. A senior medical affairs leader may know committees and reporting, yet need to show how they gain support from practicing physicians when a decision affects schedules, compensation, or service lines.
Use a practical interview case. If a service line falls short of its budget while physicians request costly equipment, ask what data the candidate reviews, who joins the discussion, and what recommendation follows. Ask who has final approval and how the candidate addresses physician objections. Their answer should distinguish influence from decision ownership.
What do we check before you see anyone?
Confirm current board certification in the physician’s primary specialty. It supports credibility with the medical staff. If the role includes clinical practice, ask about current physician licensure, practice time, call duties, and your medical staff’s expectations. Review active medical staff leadership.
- Ask about peer review, credentialing, medical executive, quality, conduct, or related committees. For a disputed recommendation, ask what records were reviewed, who voted, what authority the candidate held, and what occurred after objections.
- Examine direct financial responsibility. Ask which expenses, revenue assumptions, physician compensation items, or service-line results the candidate owned. Attendance at finance meetings differs from explaining a variance, revising a plan, and reporting a result to senior leadership.
- Discuss quality reporting and data collection. Ask which internal measures the candidate reviewed and how they handled data that conflicted with clinical experience. Ask when counsel, compliance, finance, or operations needed to weigh in before external disclosures.
- Probe physician performance work. Ask about conduct concerns, low productivity, missed committee duties, or documentation issues. Look for fact gathering, documented conversations, awareness of authority limits, and a clear next action when informal coaching did not change behavior.
- Assess development of future physician leaders. Ask whom the candidate selected for chair, committee, or medical director work. Ask how they gave feedback after a missed goal. This matters when you need stronger succession for department and group leadership.
Where do we find them, and why would they move?
We speak with physician leaders from medical groups, hospitals, health systems, academic settings, multispecialty practices, and physician-led service lines. Useful backgrounds include department chair, service-line medical director, medical staff leader, quality leader, and senior medical affairs executive. We test the scope actually held.
A physician may consider a move after an ownership change, leadership transition, reporting change, or reduced influence over group decisions. Others may seek broader enterprise responsibility or closer work with practicing physicians. We ask what draws them to your seat, what may keep them where they are, and whether geography or family plans affect a move.
Which mistakes stall the search?
A common mistake is giving the executive a broad title without defined authority over budgets, committees, physician performance, or group operations. The hire then presents decisions made elsewhere. Another is treating specialty reputation as proof of operating judgment. A respected physician may not have managed compensation questions, service-line losses, or a disputed medical staff action.
Skipping questions about physician departures, department conflict, and unsuccessful changes. Ask what happened, what authority the candidate had, and what they would change.
How would we run the search for this opening?
We start with reporting lines, decision rights, clinical practice expectations, budget scope, committee duties, and board exposure. We screen credentials, work history, leadership scope, relocation interest, and reasons for a move. We present physicians whose background matches the agreed role and support interviews and feedback discussions.
Define the seat
We also ask which physician relationships or service lines need attention.
Screen the record
We ask about governance, financial decisions, reporting, physician disagreement, and leader development.
Present and support
You complete credentialing, references, leadership assessment, and clinical review before an offer.
Where this search connects
Physician Executives & Medical Directors
SpecialtyHospitals & Health Systems
SettingAcademic Medical Centers
SettingChildren's Hospitals
SettingRural & Critical Access Hospitals
SettingChief Medical Officer (CMO)
Related roleVice President of Medical Affairs (VPMA)
Related roleMedical Director (Practice, Clinic, Region)
Related roleHospice Medical Director
Related roleAsk us for a current range
No direct SOC occupation matches this role.
No reasonable single SOC match for this brief. Ask us for a current range.
Source: U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, OEWS, 2025-05, released 2026-05-15. View source. See the full guide.
Open roles
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Must this physician remain clinically active?
That depends on your position design and medical staff expectations. Some organizations value continuing practice for physician credibility. Others need full executive attention. State expected clinical time, call duties, and applicable license expectations early. Clinical reputation does not prove executive judgment.
Should we hire a Chief Physician Executive or a Medical Group President?
Choose based on the decisions the person will own. A Medical Group President often leads employed-group operations and practice performance.
How do you assess influence with physicians?
We ask for examples involving committee conflict, performance discussions, and department decisions. We ask who held authority, what objections arose, and what happened next.
What if a leading candidate receives a counteroffer?
We ask early about authority, title, compensation, geography, family considerations, and unresolved concerns in the current role. More pay may not change why the physician explored your opportunity.
What are the placement terms?
Permanent contingency placement is our core model. 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. We arrange locum tenens, travel and contract coverage on request. Credentialing, licensing and malpractice coverage are confirmed per engagement before anyone starts.
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.
Tell us who this physician executive reports to, which decisions the role owns, and where physician leadership needs stronger direction.
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
- We review your role, responsibilities and location.
- Ivan or a senior team member will reach out soon.
- You meet a focused shortlist when qualified candidates fit the agreed search.
- 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?
Vice President of Medical Affairs (VPMA) · Department Chair / Division Chief
What do you get at each step of the search?
Our process for every search: calibrate the seat with you, map the market, research the real people, reach out to each one personally, qualify them in live conversation, then hand you a short list with a written brief on each person and support through the offer.
Search Calibration
You get an agreed brief: the work, reporting line, credentials, schedule, and offer you can make.
Market Mapping
You get a search aimed at relevant backgrounds, including people working now who have not applied.
Professional Contact Intelligence
We check appropriate ways to reach the people identified for your search. You do not have to chase them yourself.
Persistent Personalized Outreach
We explain your actual job and follow up with people who may consider a conversation.
Live Candidate Qualification
You see people we have spoken with about the work, interest, and practical fit, not an unread resume pile.
Candidate Intelligence and Process Support
You get a written brief and support through interviews and offer discussions. You make the hiring decision.
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 are the replacement terms?
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. Ask us to walk through those terms before you sign, so you know how a replacement would work for your opening and who would start it.
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.