Compensation Issues

In his first full year as president and CEO of Novant Health, based in Winston-Salem, N.C., Carl Armato's total compensation reached $2.8 million.

A consultant with Integrated Healthcare Strategies recently told the board of Washington Hospital Healthcare System in Fremont, Calif., that CEO Nancy Farber is making less than her peers, according to a Fremont Argus report.

In October, a study in JAMA Internal Medicine delved into one of the most hotly contested and debated subjects within the nonprofit healthcare sector — executive compensation.

Here are eight statistics on physician pay in 2013, according to the Physicians Practice annual physician compensation survey, which polled 1,474 physicians and staff.

Most employers have employed cost-sharing strategies that shift more financial responsibility to workers to manage healthcare costs, according to the Deloitte Center for Health Solutions 2013 Survey of U.S. Employers.

The median compensation of a physician executive for 2013 was $325,000, but that figure can vary wildly depending on the type of organization.

Naples, Fla.-based Health Management Associates has outlined a compensation structure, effective Aug. 1, for interim President and CEO John Starcher Jr.

Most U.S. physicians found the income from their medical practice disappointing in 2013, marking the third straight year a majority have expressed dissatisfaction with their earnings, according to the Physicians Practice annual physician compensation survey.

The recorded median base salary for CEOs increased 4 percent this year, up from last year's median of 3.2 percent and back in line with averages from 2011, according to the 2013 healthcare compensation study from Hay Group.

The SEIU-United Healthcare Workers West union has filed two ballot initiatives that would restrict California hospital prices and CEO compensation.