From healthcare companies to government employers, the demand for chief medical officer roles has grown tremendously since the start of the COVID-19 pandemic in 2020, according to a Nov. 13 report from Yahoo News.
The news outlet cited data from job posting site ZipRecruiter showing CMO job listings hit a record at 5,000 last year. So far in 2022, there have been 2,900 CMO listings. In 2019, there were just 767 CMO jobs posted.
Non-health companies saw the need for a clinician leader to oversee operational and employee health management needs. The new demand created opportunities for physician leaders who never thought they would work outside of the traditional healthcare setting.
Henry Ting, MD, for example, is the chief health and well-being officer for Delta Air Lines. After joining the company from Rochester, Minn.-based Mayo Clinic, he worked with other Delta executives to make decisions about how the company should operate amid falling revenue and passenger rides. He led decisions that included blocking the middle seat on flights, changing HEPA filters and organizing employee COVID-19 testing and vaccination.
"I don't think employers today are going to move away from chief physician executive or chief medical officer roles if they can add them at this point, just because of the uncertainty moving out of the pandemic," Marc Watkins, MD, Kroger's CMO, told the news outlet.