Becker's Hospital Review

Compensation 51 14 Statistics on Healthcare CEO Severance Packages By Bob Herman R oughly 83 percent of hospitals and healthcare organizations have a written severance agreement with their CEO, according to a healthcare CEO severance survey from Mercer, Witt/Kieffer and Hunton & Williams. The firms received responses from 196 standalone hospitals, multihospital health systems and health plans across the United States on how their CEO severance packages are structured and how they compare to other industries. Roughly half of responses came from organizations with $100 million to $999 million in annual revenue. About 35 percent of CEOs worked at providers with more than $1 billion in annual revenue. Examples of respondents included Advocate Health Care in Downers Grove, Ill., Hartford (Conn.) HealthCare, Grady Health in Atlanta, Catholic Health Initiatives in Engle- wood, Colo., Sutter Health in Sacramento, Calif., Cedars-Sinai Medical Center in Los Angeles and Anna Jaques Hospital in Newburyport, Mass. Here are 14 statistics from the report. • erms of the CEO's severance benefits are T outlined in the employment contract for 75 percent of organizations. • he two most-common triggers for severance T are involuntary termination without cause (90 percent) and a change in control (65 percent). • ost severance periods last for at least year, M and 49 percent said their CEO severance period stretches over 24 months. • ontinued compensation was defined as folC lows: 73 percent said severance pay only includes base salary, 18 percent said severance pay includes salary and annual incentives and 9 percent said severance pay includes salary, annual incentives and long-term incentives. • oughly 40 percent of organizations said anR nual incentives within CEO severance packages are determined by a target bonus. • t least 82 percent of health systems continue A one benefit or more. Health insurance was the most common continued benefit (99 percent), ahead of dental/vision insurance (88 percent) and life insurance (54 percent). • ccording to the survey, 37 percent of CEO A severance agreements provide for "mitigation," or the reduction or end of benefits if the CEO finds another employer during the severance period. • ost packages (53 percent) stipulate that M CEOs cannot work for a direct competitor within 50 miles or less. n 60 Statistics on Physician Compensation by Specialty By Bob Herman O f the 30 physician specialties studied by the American Medical Group Association, the highest-compensated physicians in 2012 were cardiologists in the cath lab, according to the AMGA's 2013 compensation and financial survey. AMGA, partnering with compensation firm Sullivan, Cotter and Associates, mailed out the survey in January 2013 and received valid responses from 280 medical groups, representing roughly 67,900 physicians. Cath lab cardiologists, who made more than $547,000 on average last year, edged out cardiac and thoracic surgeons. Cardiac and thoracic surgeons had previously held the top spot, but their pay decreased 3.33 percent from 2011 to $525,944. Outside of cath lab cardiologists and cardiac/thoracic surgeons, the only other physicians to earn more than $500,000 per year in total compensation were orthopedic surgeons and interventional diagnostic radiologists. General pediatricians had the lowest compensation of specialties surveyed at an average $222,827. Psychiatrists, the lowest-paid physician specialty in last year's survey, moved up to third-to-last at $224,878. Overall, 61 percent of the specialties saw an increase in compensation, and the year-over-year increase among all specialties was 1.6 percent. Endocrinologists reported the largest pay bump from 2011 — they earned an average of $234,258 last year, up more than 5.8 percent from 2011. Here are 60 statistics on physician compensation across several specialties from the AMGA's report. Note: All data below reflect compensation recorded in the 2012 calendar year. All data are medians. Data represents physicians who work in medical groups only. n Physician specialty Cardiology (cath lab) Cardiac/thoracic surgery Orthopedic surgery Diagnostic radiology (interventional) Diagnostic radiology (noninterventional) Gastroenterology Urology Cardiology Dermatology Anesthesiology Otolaryngology General surgery Ophthalmology Pathology (combined) Hematology/medical oncology OB/GYN (general) Emergency medicine Pulmonary disease (without critical care) Hypertension/nephrology Allergy/immunology Neurology Infectious disease Hospitalist (internal medicine) Rheumatologic disease Urgent care Endocrinology Internal medicine Psychiatry Family medicine Pediatrics/adolescent (general) Median Percentage Change Compensation from 2011 in 2012 $547,112 4.27 percent $525,944 -3.33 percent $525,000 1.79 percent $504,772 4.02 percent $453,216 -1.30 percent $432,616 -0.58 percent $424,603 2.17 percent $420,991 -2.17 percent $411,499 3.56 percent $394,734 4.60 percent $383,141 2.34 percent $373,478 0.93 percent $372,552 0.15 percent $354,054 -2.61 percent $350,268 0.61 percent $312,541 3.03 percent $301,000 1.18 percent $300,646 -1.40 percent $277,449 -0.17 percent $270,904 1.04 percent $255,004 2.31 percent $242,447 5.64 percent $241,250 2.01 percent $240,250 -4.89 percent $239,733 -1.00 percent $234,258 5.81 percent $226,833 1.08 percent $224,878 3.54 percent $223,810 2.03 percent $222,827 0.99 percent

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