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Getting back in the race; Retired healthcare executives are being lured back into the office as organizations look for experienced leaders to take the reins.

Article Excerpt
Byline: Mary Chris Jaklevic

Young healthcare executives trying to move into top leadership positions are facing unexpected competition: retirees.

Executives who quit 80-hour workweeks to spend more time in fairways and flower patches are being lured back to the daily grind. In recent weeks, three healthcare organizations have tapped retired executives to assume top jobs.

Atlanta's public Grady Health System announced last week that it hired John Henry, who retired as chief executive officer of Emory Hospitals in Atlanta on Aug. 31, to be its chief operating officer. Earlier this month, MedCath Corp., Charlotte, N.C., recruited one of its board members, retired healthcare executive John Casey, to be its president and CEO. And last month Northern Arizona Healthcare, a not-for-profit three-hospital system in Flagstaff, turned over its helm to Fred Brown, the retired CEO of BJC Healthcare, St. Louis (See chart, p. 7).

None of the organizations would disclose salary data.

Retirees will continue to trickle back into executive ranks, though not in great numbers, predicted Thomas Dolan, president and CEO of the American College of Healthcare Executives. Some executives who retired after building up hefty savings during the last economic boom may now be deciding that they have more to offer, Dolan said. He added that none of the recently returning retirees appear to need the money.

"In many instances, it will be a real boon to these organizations,'' Dolan said, adding that younger executives will get a chance to learn from "world-class'' leaders.

Senior executives appear to be retiring younger, expanding the chances for career...