Healthcare Executive Pay Will Be Tied to Increasing Responsibilities and Population Health Outcomes

In the recent Crain’s New York Business article “Pandemic will have little impact on future of hospital pay,” COPE Health Solutions CEO Allen Miller made two key points about health care executive pay.

1. Hospital CEOs and their senior executive teams face considerable challenges only made more difficult by the pandemic.

Crain’s New York Business analyzed pay data for 2019, the most recent financial information available, and found that nine New York hospital executives and five physicians each received more than $5 million in annual compensation.

Of course, many health care executives in New York and across the country took temporary pay cuts in 2020 as the pandemic wreaked havoc on their organizations’ finances while putting incredible strains on clinical care and the health care workforce.

Even as they continue to treat COVID-19 patients and, in some cases, cope with new surges, health care leaders must navigate their way forward. The challenges range from managing the many non-COVID-19 patients who may face greater health issues brought on by avoiding care during the health care worker burnout.

As a result, experts predict that executive pay going forward will reflect the growing demands on senior leaders. “Coming out of Covid, their jobs have gotten harder, not easier,” Miller told Crain’s New York Business. “I would assume the upward (pay) trajectories over the years to continue.”

2. Pay will be more tightly aligned with patient health outcomes.

Going forward, bonuses will be increasingly tied to the patient population’s overall health and cost of care rather than the services provided. That shift was underway even before COVID-19, but the pandemic accelerated it, Miller said.

Even as senior leaders focus on near-term priorities such as COVID-19 vaccinations and rebuilding a new normal, they also are expected to make progress on strategic objectives that include digital transformation and the shift to value-based care and value-based payments.

To read more about health care executive pay, read the article at Crain’s New York Business. (registration required).