The median base salary for all healthcare executives rose 4.1% this year, compared with 4.4% in 2025, according to a survey from consulting firm SullivanCotter.
The 2026 Health Care Management and Executive Compensation Survey, released Sept. 24, covers positions across more than 3,600 healthcare organizations, including health systems and the hospitals, medical groups and health plans they own.
Here are six things to know, per SullivanCotter’s news release:
1. Base salaries for health system executives rose 4.3% at the median, compared with 3.6% for executives at subsidiary hospitals. SullivanCotter linked the gap to the growing scope of enterprise leadership and the centralization of key functions.
2. Organizations directed the largest pay increases toward roles tied to enterprise transformation, technology, workforce strategy, clinical integration and growth. At the same time, many are redesigning executive structures to keep costs affordable.
3. Median total cash compensation, meaning base salary plus annual incentives, grew 5.4%, down from 7% in 2025. It rose 5.8% at health systems and 4.9% at subsidiary hospitals. Incentive payouts averaged slightly above target, while the share of organizations offering incentive plans and their target award levels stayed mostly the same.
4. Roles with median base salary increases of 5% or more included CEO, COO, CFO, chief strategy officer, chief human resources officer, chief technology officer and chief physician executive. Leaders over talent acquisition, total rewards, learning, analytics, quality, managed care, marketing, government relations and internal audit also reached that threshold.
5. In SullivanCotter’s Executive Workforce Pulse Survey conducted in April, 45% of organizations said they changed the weighting of their fiscal 2026 incentive plan goals. Many put more emphasis on financial performance, changed the balance between system-level and entity-level performance, or both.
6. The same pulse survey found that more than 90% of organizations have taken or plan to take action on their executive workforce. The most common step is revising titles and leveling (73%), and 56% said operating model changes are underway, being evaluated or planned. SullivanCotter also reported an increase in the number of positions in enterprise transformation, technology and innovation, patient access and community-based care.
