Want to submit a contributed article to Chief Healthcare Executive? Here’s how.

The audience of Chief Healthcare Executive® has grown substantially over the past few years, and we’re receiving more requests for contributed pieces.

We welcome contributed articles to Chief Healthcare Executive, but opinion pieces must meet certain guidelines. The most important: They have to be non-promotional.

That’s fantastic. We want to provide more perspectives and ideas on the pressing issues in health care. Ideally, we hope to share some solutions to big problems.

We’ve published a host of opinion pieces from healthcare leaders over the last couple of years. These features, which are labeled as “Viewpoint”, have generated strong readership. And we relish the chance to bring different ideas and strategies to Chief Healthcare Executive®, as we strive to be an indispensable resource for leaders in the industry.

Here’s a guide to submitting contributed pieces.

Non-promotional

This is the most important rule, and it’s non-negotiable. Contributed features must be non-promotional and vendor-neutral, avoiding any overt or subtle promotion of specific companies or products.

For example, we would welcome a contributing feature on a topic such as digital health and expanding more access to patients. But we won’t accept a feature that touts one company above others. That would be a promotional piece.

An important note: Chief Healthcare Executive offers sponsored content opportunities for promotional material. Our sales team would be happy to talk to you about sponsored content opportunities.

Use plain English

Our “Viewpoint” features should be written in a clear, conversational style. It’s always a good idea to write in the way people talk.

Avoid using jargon that may be common in one area of the healthcare ecosystem, but may not always be understood by a wider audience. Go easy on the acronyms.

Chief Healthcare Executive enjoys a broad audience, which goes beyond clinicians. If you’re a doctor or nurse, remember that many readers aren’t caregivers. If you’re a healthcare technology leader, don’t assume everyone knows about every type of software.

Chief Healthcare Executive follows Associated Press style. We don’t use footnotes, but it’s a good idea to link to studies or news stories that are relevant.

Be brief

Viewpoint pieces should be around 600-700 words. That’s not a hard limit. If a story reads well and is relevant, it can be a bit longer.

However, if a submitted piece is more than 1,000 words, there’s a good chance it will be sent back with a request to cut it down.

Healthcare leaders are busy. So it’s better to be concise.

Problems and solutions

The most successful “Viewpoint” pieces focus on specific problems or challenges in the industry, and offer suggestions or strategies in dealing with those issues.

It’s also good to think about solutions that can be applied to organizations of all sizes. Some smaller hospitals won’t have millions of dollars to address a need.

Know the audience

Chief Healthcare Executive primarily serves the leaders of hospitals and health systems. Obviously, health systems include physician practices, primary care, outpatient facilities, and insurance plans.

But we are focused on the hospital industry. Think of reaching that audience.

Human authors

We don’t want pieces created by AI. We expect contributed features to be written by human authors.

We understand if contributors are using AI tools to assist in research or spur ideas. But we’re only taking articles from real people.

Civility matters

If a contributed piece questions conventional wisdom or criticizes legislation or health policy, that’s fine. However, we’ll reject pieces if they include character assassination or rude language. Be civil, not snarky.

Photo and brief bio

We typically include a photo of our contributing authors, and a very short description of the author at the end (Example: Jane Doe is CEO of Metropolis Health).

Send your ideas

Now that we’ve reviewed the guidelines, let’s make it clear that we want more contributed pieces.

If you’ve found success in tackling a problem, or want to weigh in on legislation, regulation, or any issue you think is important, write to us.

We love hearing from hospital executives, but we want to hear from doctors, nurses, financial officers, technology leaders, and anyone from the healthcare ecosystem.

We want to hear from patients, too.

And we also hope to have a diverse mix of ideas, opinions and voices. If you’re representing a group or community that may be underserved or struggles to be heard, please reach out to us so we can amplify those voices.

And while I love the image of the vintage typewriter accompanying this guide, you should send your contributed pieces via email.

Send them to me: [email protected].