"Women aren’t making it to high-level roles in healthcare, according to a recent study.

Development Dimensions International (DDI), a global talent-management firm, found that while 82% of first-level managers in healthcare were women, only 51% of leaders at the executive level were women.

“It’s a significant gap in women’s representation between the first and executive levels that is particularly glaring in the healthcare industry, where the proportion of women in the leadership population is so large,” says Debra Walker, vice president of DDI’s healthcare practice.

Another major finding was that even though formal succession plans led to more equitable treatment of women, healthcare organizations are much less likely than others to have these plans in place. Forty-eight percent of companies in other industries have a succession plan for top-level leaders, but only 33% of healthcare organizations have a plan."  Managed Healthcare Executive-enews.