Although black and white female physicians earn similar incomes, a substantial wage gap exists between black and white male physicians, according to recent study published by The BMJ.

The current physician hiring atmosphere is competitive — so most healthcare organizations are adding incentives to contracts to sweeten the deal.

The average starting salary of family medicine physicians — the most-requested practitioners for 10 consecutive years by healthcare organizations — eclipsed $200,000 this year for the first time, according to Merritt Hawkins, an Irving, Texas-based physician search firm.

J. Michael Pearson, former CEO of Valeant Pharmaceuticals, is getting a hefty golden parachute, according to CNN Money.

Male physicians still earn more than their female counterparts in both primary and specialty care — though a survey from Medscape suggests this gap is closing.

Blue Shield of California has made its first detailed disclosure on executive pay, which lists compensation for the nonprofit's 10 highest paid executives by name.

Many of the highest earners among organizations in the Standard & Poor's 500 index are healthcare and pharmaceutical company CEOs, according to a report from the Associated Press and research firm Equilar.

Compensation for primary care providers increased at a faster rate than specialty care compensation last year, according to the 2015 Medical Group Management Association annual compensation survey. 

Compensation for CEOs of healthcare organizations in the Standard & Poor's 500 index was millions higher than their executive peers in other industries in 2015, according to Equilar and the Associated Press' S&P 500 CEO Pay Study 2016.

When a company performs well, chances are its top leadership will see a raise in salary, some of which are higher than others. But this CEO's pay increase might take the cake, according to Fortune.

The Department of Labor last week updated the federal overtime pay rule, impacting millions of workers, including healthcare workers and medical researchers.

Pittsburgh-based UPMC President and CEO Jeffrey Romoff received total compensation of $6.43 million in fiscal year 2015, down slightly from $6.45 million the year prior, according to the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette.

Despite accounting for a disproportionately low number of positions, female CEOs at the 100 largest companies are out-earning their male counterparts significantly. In 2015, the eight female CEOs of the 100 largest companies by revenue earned an average of $22.7 million, compared to $14.9 million for the male CEOs on the list, according to analysis by Equilar.

Mean compensation data doesn't tell the whole story about which jobs are best-paid —it may not even come close.

Nearly 70 percent of physicians now work in hospital-based settings, according to Jim Carr, a partner at HealthCare Appraisers. Reimbursement cuts, lifestyle changes, alignment initiatives and fear were all principal factors that drove the hospital-based employment trend over the last seven or eight years, he said at the Becker's Hospital Review 7th Annual Meeting in Chicago.

The highest paid CEO in the U.S. leads a relatively unknown cancer research firm in Los Angeles called NantKwest. Patrick Soon-Shiong, MD, earned $147.6 million in 2015, according to Fortune.

Although the median pay of CEOs at companies in the Standard & Poor's 1500 index was $5.4 million in fiscal 2015, nine CEOs seem determined to show stakeholders they are in it for more than the paycheck.

An annual national survey of physicians found per diem payments and total hospital payments rose from 2014-15 to 2015-16, according to MD Ranger, a physician contract payment solutions company.

The new CEO of Fort Lauderdale, Fla.-based Broward Health could make up to $950,000 in his or her first year.

Nashville, Tenn.-based HCA Holdings CEO and CFO saw their base salaries and total compensation increase in 2015.