Healthcare executive salaries rise as officers reap benefits of performance incentives, expanded roles, survey says

Base salaries for healthcare executives climbed a modest 3.1 percent in 2015, a new survey from Sullivan, Cotter and Associates found, as the expanded responsibilities C-level execs face in healthcare is causing compensation packages to swell.

SullivanCotter collected salary information from more than 1,300 hospitals, the agency said.

Overall, executives in large health systems saw a larger increase in salaries, climbing 3.6 percent compared to the prior year, while single-hospital execs saw their base pay rise by a lower 2.6 percent.

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"Although overall growth remains consistent with last year, we are seeing some variation based on the size and type of organization," said David Dethmers, manager of information and general industry surveys at SullivanCotter, said in a statement. "Large systems with over $1 billion in revenue and large hospitals with $300 million or more in revenue saw median base salaries increase at a faster rate than their smaller counterparts."

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While base pay saw modest increases, the rise in executive compensation was much higher when accounting for total cash compensation, which can include performance-based bonuses and other pay vehicles aside from salary. Overall, executives saw a 6.9 percent rise in total cash compensation, with health system execs taking in 7.4 percent more in total cash.

"This year, 28 percent more reported hitting their annual incentive targets, and these payouts contribute to the overall increase in total cash compensation," said Tom Pavlik, managing principal at SullivanCotter.

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