There’s an interesting challenge confronting growing care delivery organizations, particularly ones that have a brick-and-mortar component. Given their operational and return profile, typically, pure healthcare services organizations have been funded predominantly (albeit not exclusively) by private equity firms. But increasingly, these companies are being funded by venture, which operates on a completely different set of metrics. Whether that’s the right investor-company-return match is a topic for another day.

This presents an interesting challenge on the talent front that we’re observing. As care delivery companies scale, they’re looking for individuals who have “been there, done that” and that’s usually going to be executives who are coming out of PE-backed companies, who operate on a completely different playbook. That the playbook even exists is different, whereas in early-stage venture, an ops playbook becomes obsolete the moment you print it. Companies tend to get stuck in this ‘tweener state’ - too small to hire operators who’ve seen scale (and pay them), too large for those who haven’t demonstrated an ability to scale past a certain point.

How this will be solved with operating executive talent is unfolding gradually and in varied way as more organizations reach the inflection point, but it’s worth having a point of view if you find yourself in this situation. In fact, companies should expect that these types of roles will have turnover - and they should plan for it. Our recommendation is to hire for what you need today that can last you at least 18-24 months, but caution about thinking too far past that, because the business can look very different by then.

PS: If you’re curious what these operators will run you compensation-wise, participate in our annual compensation study here by October 31st.

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• Kari O’Rouke, NP joins Brightline, a pediatric mental health solution company, as Chief Executive Officer (Source)
• Rick Denning and Heather Rosson join Patheous Health, a dysphagia screening and imaging company, as Chief Executive Officer and Chief Operating Officer, respectively (Source)
• Molly O’Neill joins Ascertain, an AI administrative workflow company, as Chief Commercial Officer (Source)
• J.R. Peacock joins ZERO.health, a healthcare management company, as Chief Growth Officer (Source)
• Dan Juberg joins Diagnostic Robotics, an AI-based, healthcare analytics company, as Chief Growth Officer (Source)
• Laura Dettmann joins TeleMed2U, a tele-specialty care company, as Chief Revenue Officer (Source)
• Rick Trefzger joins Bonsai Health, an agentic AI platform, as Chief Revenue Officer (Source)
• Kathleen Faulk joins Drips, a conversational outreach company, as Chief Strategy Officer (Source)
• Dr. Mimi Lee, MD, PhD joins GeneDX, a genetic testing company, as Chief Precision Medicine Officer (Source)
• Byron Crowe, MD, MSc joins Doctronic AI, an AI-native health delivery platform, as Chief Medical Officer (Source)

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• Somatus, a value-based kidney care company, is hiring an SVP, People
• Kindbody, a fertility clinic network, is hiring a VP, Client Success
• Wheel, a virtual care company, is hiring a VP, Customer Success
• Virta Health, a diabetes and obesity reversal company, is hiring a VP, Commercial Operations
• Progyny, a women’s health and family building solutions company, is hiring a VP, Consultant Relations
• Qualified Health, a generative AI infrastructure company focused on healthcare, is hiring a Head of People

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