Hospital CEO Salaries: Are The Big Bucks Justified?

[TheCommuter]

CEO is a widely used acronym in the corporate world that stands for 'chief executive officer.' The CEO of a hospital or healthcare system is the top executive in charge who bears the main responsibility for the organization's comprehensive operations and performance. In other words, the hospital CEO is the man or woman (typically a male) with the ultimate authority to make the big decisions regarding the manner in which the hospital will be run. The effects of the hospital CEO's decisions trickle down to all areas of the healthcare system in which he runs and can have lasting effects.

Healthcare expenditures in the United States have been escalating for quite some time. In this current era of rising healthcare costs, members of the public have been paying close attention to the compensation packages of hospital CEOs.

The 2010 national average salary and bonus for a hospital CEO is $517,000 and $909,000 for a health system CEO, according to consulting firm Integrated Healthcare Strategies, reports Georgia Health News (Cheung, 2011).

Furthermore, many hospital CEOs earn salary packages that greatly exceed the national average. Nine percent of nonprofit hospital chief executives in the Midwest are paid more than $1 million a year, according to a new report (Glenn, 2011). Additionally, some hospital CEOs are paid multimillion dollar salaries each year.

Javon Bea, president and CEO of Janesville, Wis.-based Mercy Health System, who made roughly $3.6 million in total compensation in 2009, is defending his salary, saying it has no effect on healthcare costs, according to a Janesville Gazette report (Herman, 2011).

Are these hefty salary ranges justifiable in this day and age?

I'm assured that almost any highly paid hospital CEO would argue that certain talents and a specific skill set are required to successfully run health systems. Surely, nonprofit hospitals wish their executive salaries wouldn't be held under such a public microscope, but that's the price of a tax exemption-and it's a price that to them apparently is ultimately worth it (Glenn, 2011).

Does it make any sense to have leaders of hospitals who earn salaries that are often many times more than the other employees' pay, especially when many healthcare facilities are going out of business? It's a difficult question to answer, and we cannot reasonably expect to use simple solutions to resolve complex problems. This is just some food for thought.

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[GitanoRN, BSN, MSN, RN]

needless to say, the conversation is getting interesting, however, i'll still wait to place my :twocents: cents worth later on...aloha~

[GitanoRN, BSN, MSN, RN]

this video might give a better perspective to the interesting previous posters and so it goes...

[video=youtube_share;p8j2p5xdrnk]http://youtu.be/p8j2p5xdrnk

[VBRNJD99]

This is about salaries in Canada. Different animal

[GitanoRN, BSN, MSN, RN]

this is about salaries in canada. different animal

it doesn't matter where the animal is the name of the game is "awareness" in the medical field around the world.....just saying.

[daisy2daisy]

Bull Corn.

Executives are not doing the work in each of these areas. They have a full complement of staff handling the day to day details. There's nothing magical or mystical about the work executives do.

I can promise you that there is NOT one single thing they do that I will "never be able to understand." If there is one thing they attend to that is greater than I would ever be able to understand, then I am not fit for or capable to be a registered nurse.

That is simply ridiculous.

Taking simple situations and making them complex is not a skill to be admired. It is inefficiency and self-aggrandizing.

For example, very bad things happen when units are sorely short staffed. Conducting a study, creating a safety campaign, holding pointless committee meetings, and haranguing staff will not help. Having enough staff to do the work will solve the problem. Cutting excessive CEO pay and bonuses and using that money to fund safe and adequate staff numbers is a simple solution.

Right on, Sista!!!

[herring_RN, ASN, BSN]

Our CEO and executive team went on a nine day retreat to Hawaii. The top management were the RN shift supervisors.

the hospital ran fine. We staffed a bit better. Patient care was excellent.

Doctors commented on how smoothly the hospital ran.

Our manager later told us we were under budget.

I think by truly focusing on patient needs rather than the budget we provided better care and saved money too.

No one was called off for a scheduled shift or sent home early for budgetary reasond. When this is done someting happens that leaves the unit with insufficient staff.

[GitanoRN, BSN, MSN, RN]

our ceo and executive team went on a nine day retreat to hawaii. the top management were the rn shift supervisors.

the hospital ran fine. we staffed a bit better. patient care was excellent.

doctors commented on how smoothly the hospital ran.

our manager later told us we were under budget.

i think by truly focusing on patient needs rather than the budget we provided better care and saved money too.

no one was called off for a scheduled shift or sent home early for budgetary reasond. when this is done someting happens that leaves the unit with insufficient staff.

unquestionably, you bring up 2 good points to the table, however, this is one of those moments that makes you go hmmm?....just saying

[kbrn2002, ADN, RN]

Sore subject here...let's see, CEO gets huge wages and big bonuses, probably for finishing fiscal year under budget....me, wage freeze past 2 years and part of the reason that (insert bad name here) CEO is under budget!

[ChooSoul]

They are green eyed monsters they care about nothing but money. They are the reason why facilities have closed down since the recession. Like this one hospital in my city, its been struggling to fight bankruptcy for a while now. It is a government hospital so people took advantage of that fact, and many patients dont pay and would stay admitted for a while as if it was a hotel, but, this was not the major reason why the hospital declared to be under-budget. There was investigation done, and it was the executives that hired ghost employees, and they were paid waaaay more than the regular employees. They used the facility's budget to pay for their maids, the people they took loans from(why? cause they probably aren't satisfied with being multimillionaires so they're being cheap by stealing) and other strangers who totally had nothing to with the facility. And the CEO and other executives were able to resign taking with them their millions, and leaving employees to be laid off and depressed(there were more than 5K workers that were laid off, and they are still cutting down). Hard to find CEO who's not corrupted by money.

[HM-8404, BSN, RN]

They are green eyed monsters they care about nothing but money. They are the reason why facilities have closed down since the recession. Like this one hospital in my city, its been struggling to fight bankruptcy for a while now. It is a government hospital so people took advantage of that fact, and many patients dont pay and would stay admitted for a while as if it was a hotel, but, this was not the major reason why the hospital declared to be under-budget. There was investigation done, and it was the executives that hired ghost employees, and they were paid waaaay more than the regular employees. They used the facility's budget to pay for their maids, the people they took loans from(why? cause they probably aren't satisfied with being multimillionaires so they're being cheap by stealing) and other strangers who totally had nothing to with the facility. And the CEO and other executives were able to resign taking with them their millions, and leaving employees to be laid off and depressed(there were more than 5K workers that were laid off, and they are still cutting down). Hard to find CEO who's not corrupted by money.

Sounds like it may just be hard to find Gov't workers who are not corrupt. A CEO in a private hospital answers to a board of directors, in a gov't position they answer to over worked, understaffed gov't employees who just don't give a crap. Just the type of people I want in charge of my health care system. The same people that run the DMV, the IRS, the bankrupt post office, the extremely over budget military, and a whole host of others.

[SC_RNDude]

They are green eyed monsters they care about nothing but money. They are the reason why facilities have closed down since the recession. Like this one hospital in my city, its been struggling to fight bankruptcy for a while now. It is a government hospital so people took advantage of that fact, and many patients dont pay and would stay admitted for a while as if it was a hotel, but, this was not the major reason why the hospital declared to be under-budget. There was investigation done, and it was the executives that hired ghost employees, and they were paid waaaay more than the regular employees. They used the facility's budget to pay for their maids, the people they took loans from(why? cause they probably aren't satisfied with being multimillionaires so they're being cheap by stealing) and other strangers who totally had nothing to with the facility. And the CEO and other executives were able to resign taking with them their millions, and leaving employees to be laid off and depressed(there were more than 5K workers that were laid off, and they are still cutting down). Hard to find CEO who's not corrupted by money.

There are a few things you say that don't make sense. Help me understand what went on here. What is the name of the hospital? If this was a gov't run hospital, this must have been in the news. Probably was even if it was a privately run hospital. I would like to do some research on this. Thanks!

[Overland1, RN]

Heck, no... I wnat the unemployed "bath salts" guy or woman fresh from an "Occupy" protest running my hospital.