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Friday, May 18, 2012

I Missed My Calling: Hospital Execs’ Pay Astronomical

This is probably not news to many but according to data recently published by the Connecticut Health I-Team, hospital executives are being paid handsomely .

Figures from 2009-10 reveal that 18 executives in Connecticut, a state with only 30 hospitals, made over $1 million per year.

Some of these figures include retirement packages. The top earner was the outgoing president of Hartford Hospital, who made nearly $7 million, with “all but $1.1 million of it nontaxable and retirement benefits.”

Below is a table from the Connecticut Health I-Team showing the top 15 highest paid executives.


Some of the hospitals, Yale-New Haven, St. Raphael's and Hartford, are large. Most are between 300-400 beds, but #13 New Milford is only 85 beds.

I realize that hospital executives have a lot of responsibility, but usually when they make a mistake, no one dies. I doubt they are sued very often either.

When I am reincarnated, I thought I wanted to be a weatherman [See my blog about this here] or maybe a consultant (both jobs with good pay and no accountability), but perhaps hospital executive is the best choice.

Oh, and how’s your retirement package looking these days?

[This blog appeared on Sermo yesterday and 95% of doctors who voted felt that hospital execs were paid too much (surprise) and only 13% of doctors felt that their retirement situation was "all set."]

8 comments:

Unknown said...

Yeah, if I took the vote, I would have to say "Way too much"! As a nurse I find that this is just another thing that contributes to budget cuts in areas that should be getting the most money, like, oh, I don't know....PATIENT CARE...

Skeptical Scalpel said...

Thanks for the comment and a good point.

BobbyG said...

It'll be interesting to see how the executive pay levels will shake out when/if ACOs get fully underway.

apropos, I made this observation 3 years ago on one of my blogs:

Quick recap:"...health-care policy is in the hands of people who disagree, and who regard health insurance not as the solution but as the problem."

Well, it might be more accurate to say that large-scale changes to U.S. health policy status quo would be a problem. Say, for people like

Ronald A Williams, CEO of Aetna (AET) for 3 years. Mr. Williams has been with the company for 8 years. The 60 year old executive ranks 1 within Health Care Equipment & Services. TOTAL COMPENSATION $38.125 mil, 5-YEAR COMPENSATION TOTAL $77.863 mil

Timothy E Guertin, CEO of Varian Medical Systems (VAR) for 3 years. Mr. Guertin has been with the company for 34 years. The 60 year old executive ranks 10 within Health Care Equipment & Services. TOTAL COMPENSATION $9.56 mil, 5-YEAR COMPENSATION TOTAL $23.533 mil

Stephen J Hemsley, CEO of UnitedHealth Group (UNH) for 2 years. Mr. Hemsley has been with the company for 12 years. The 56 year old executive ranks 17 within Health Care Equipment & Services. TOTAL COMPENSATION $5.035 mil, 5-YEAR COMPENSATION TOTAL, N/A

Michael B McCallister, CEO of Humana (HUM) for 9 years. Mr. McCallister has been with the company for 35 years. The 56 year old executive ranks 25 within Health Care Equipment & Services. TOTAL COMPENSATION $2.39 mil, 5-YEAR COMPENSATION TOTAL $56.91 mil

The foregoing are drawn from the latest data at Forbes.com under the "Health Care Equipment and Services" category.

Then, there's the Top Dog within the "Drugs and Biotechnology" sector:
John H Hammergren, CEO of McKesson (MCK) for 10 years. Mr. Hammergren has been with the company for 13 years. The 50 year old executive ranks 1 within Drugs & Biotechnology. TOTAL COMPENSATION $51.29 mil, 5-YEAR COMPENSATION TOTAL $137.78 mil.

You could also peruse the "Insurance" Sector for some equivalently stratospheric numbers.
__

http://bgladd.blogspot.com/2009/05/us-health-care-policy-morass.html

Skeptical Scalpel said...

BobbyG, great comment. This is why you will never see a single payer system in the US. The insurance companies will never allow it to happen. Why should they?

Lisa researching calling hospital said...

This is the most ridiculous thing I've heard this week. That rate of pay is astronomical! No wonder it costs so much to get sick or injured!

Skeptical Scalpel said...

Couple hospital CEO salaries with those of health insurance executives and you will really be astounded. Check out this link http://www.creators.com/opinion/daily-editorials/health-insurance-ceo-paid-106-million-feel-better.html

Anonymous said...

Astounding! Sad to see the most important stakeholders, physicians, surgeons and other caregivers, are shafted.

Skeptical Scalpel said...

Michelle, thanks for commenting. I agree.

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