Kidada Hawkins has worked in healthcare administration for over 15 years. Throughout the course of his career, he has worked with multiple struggling hospitals and healthcare systems to turn around performance and improve community perceptions. Kidada Hawkins is a talented and results-driven leader who doesn’t back down from a challenge.
Kidada Hawkins currently lives in Auburndale, Florida. One of the critical areas Kidada Hawkins focuses on in his work is patient experience and engagement. He has worked with various facilities, including for-profit and not-for-profit systems, in rural and urban areas. These differences have posed unique challenges, but Kidada has found success regardless. Healthcare systems are crucial for thriving communities, and by implementing accountability systems, mending relationships, and optimizing operations, he has ensured these critical facilities continue to be available for residents in need. He is acutely aware of healthcare administrators’ influence on the communities they serve, and he takes that responsibility seriously.
He spent several years working for Stringfellow Memorial Hospital, where he worked in recruitment and other administrative areas. After this, he moved to St. Vincent’s Health System, where he took his first executive position. In his five years within this health system, Kidada Hawkins worked with two different facilities and made substantial changes. He increased employee engagement, helped one facility move from an annual loss to making a profit, and drastically improved patient experience ratings.
After his time with St. Vincent’s Health System, Kidada Hawkins took a position at Shoals Hospital. As the CEO, he worked hard to reverse the financial decline, improve community perceptions of the facility, and mend physician relationships. In his three years there, Kidada Hawkins decreased serious safety events by 47%, reduced turnover rates, improved inpatient satisfaction rates, and more. His success in this position paved the way for his promotion to Market Chief Operating Officer for Tenet Healthcare Corporation. Looking at Kidada Hawkins’ career, it is clear that he is an effective leader who drives results and helps teams realize their full potential. He has helped multiple facilities turn around from incredibly poor fiscal performance and negative community perception to becoming thriving medical facilities. He has worked for both for-profit and not-for-profit systems, giving him unique insight into the ways these different models are run. His accomplishments have been recognized outside of his organizations as well, as Kidada Hawkins was included in Becker’s Hospital Review in both 2019 and 2020 as a top African American leader in healthcare.