We recently reported news from UnityPoint Health-Des Moines about Jennifer Havens being named the next CEO for UnityPoint Health-Grinnell Regional Medical Center. Since this was the first female CEO I could recall being appointed at a Central Iowa hospital, it made me wonder: How many other registered nurses, or women for that matter, ascend to the top executive post at hospitals?
        
I asked the folks at the Iowa Hospital Association, who said that 34 of the state’s 118 hospitals — just under 29 percent — are currently led by women, including five who are interim CEOs. Among those women, the best estimate is that Havens is one of just 10 nurses who are presently CEOs of Iowa hospitals. 

Iowa’s percentage of female hospital CEOs compares favorably with U.S. averages. Nationwide, women make up 11 percent of CEOs listed on hospital websites, according to data from Becker’s Hospital Review, a figure that health care venture capital firm Rock Health cited in a 2017 article. Overall, nearly one-third (32.4 percent) of hospital executives are women. Interestingly enough, that percentage of female executives at a hospital increases to 40 percent when there’s a female CEO, Rock Health found. 

Rock Health also noted that the most common hospital executive role for female leaders is chief nursing officer; 60 percent of chief nursing officers are women.