AMN Healthcare Appoints Leadership and Search Solutions President

July 19, 2018 – AMN Healthcare Services, the largest U.S. healthcare staffing provider, has named Kelly Rakowski as president for leadership and search solutions. The recent addition follows a wave of growth at AMN.

Ms. Rakowski will be responsible for leading the company’s interim leadership, physician permanent placement, recruitment process outsourcing and executive search solutions services.

She will report directly to Susan Salka, president and CEO. This is a new leadership role for San Diego-based AMN. It will enable the evolution of a comprehensive strategy and growth of these consultative services during an era when healthcare organizations are facing significant workforce shortages and need strong partners and talent to execute on their most important business initiatives, said AMN.

“Healthcare organizations need strong, experienced leaders to guide them and the highest quality professionals to serve their patients in this period of unprecedented change,” said Ms. Salka. “Kelly will work to ensure all our leadership and search solutions businesses are optimized and evolving to help our clients meet their operational and strategic challenges and provide the best care possible for their patients.”

A Strong Background

Ms. Rakowski previously worked at Premier Inc., where she was senior vice president of advisory and collaborative services. In this role, she led advisory services to healthcare organizations’ operational transformation, population health, clinical quality and safety improvement. Before that, Ms. Rakowski led healthcare consulting groups with several large firms, including EY/Capgemini, GE Healthcare, Accenture and Xerox.

AMN Healthcare is a leader and innovator in healthcare workforce solutions and staffing services to healthcare facilities across the nation. The company provides access to a comprehensive network of quality healthcare professionals through its innovative recruitment strategies and breadth of career opportunities. AMN helps providers optimize their workforce to reduce complexity, increase efficiency and improve patient outcomes. The company delivers managed services programs, healthcare executive search solutions, vendor management systems, recruitment process outsourcing, predictive modeling, mid-revenue cycle solutions and other services.

Earlier this year, AMN completed two acquisitions: MedPartners, a national mid-revenue cycle firm, and two related brands in healthcare leadership solutions: executive search firm Phillips DiPisa and Leaders For Today. The acquisitions totaled $195 million, according to AMN.


AMN Healthcare Services Acquires B.E. Smith
AMN Healthcare Services has completed its acquisition of healthcare-focused executive search firm B.E. Smith for $160 million in cash. Founded in 1978, B.E. Smith is a full-service healthcare interim leadership placement and executive search firm. 


“As the leading healthcare workforce provider, we understand the growing need for healthcare facilities to optimize revenue to provide a more effective, quality patient care experience,” said Ms. Salka. “With the acquisition of MedPartners, we can deliver a full range of mid-revenue cycle solutions that include case management, clinical documentation improvement, medical coding and registry services to our clients and healthcare professionals.”

Valued Additions

MedPartners, based in Tampa, provides solutions that help maximize healthcare facilities’ revenue integrity, improve patient care management and support care-quality reporting requirements.

“We are proud of the work we have done to move the healthcare industry forward, delivering the highest quality services to our clients and opportunities to our candidates,” said Marci Wilhelm, president and co-founder of MedPartners. “We are looking forward to bringing our capabilities to AMN Healthcare and expanding the reach of our innovative solutions.”

Meanwhile, Phillips DiPisa and Leaders For Today, based in the Boston area, offer a range of leadership staffing and permanent placement solutions for the healthcare industry. Phillips DiPisa is an executive search firm with offices in Atlanta, Chicago, Los Angeles and Philadelphia. Leaders For Today provides interim and permanent leadership workforce solutions. Both businesses have a particularly strong presence and market share in the important Northeast region.

The purchase price for both firms was $30 million, with potential for an additional $7 million based on future financial performance. The combined firms generated revenues of about $23 million last year.

Expanded Services

Ms. Salka said: “The addition of Phillips DiPisa and Leaders For Today will expand our leadership placement services for the C-suite, meeting a critical need for healthcare executive teams and their boards as they navigate consolidation and develop ways to optimize their workforce and deliver high-quality care,”

“Our purpose has always been to partner with healthcare organizations in finding the best leaders for their business,” said Dan Phillips, founder and partner of Phillips DiPisa. “We are thrilled to bring our expertise in executive-level searches to AMN Healthcare, where together we can deliver even greater value to our clients and the ever-evolving healthcare community.”

Over the last few years, acquisitions have been a key growth driver for AMN Healthcare. In 2015, the company took over Onward Healthcare, a nurse and allied healthcare staffing firm; First String Healthcare, a nursing focused recruiting firm; and Millican Solutions, a physician executive search firm that serves academic medical centers and children’s hospitals. In 2016, AMN Healthcare acquired healthcare-focused executive search firm B.E. Smith for $160 million.

Contributed by Scott A. Scanlon, Editor-in-Chief; Dale M. Zupsansky, Managing Editor; Stephen Sawicki, Managing Editor; and Andrew W. Mitchell, Managing Editor – Hunt Scanlon Media

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