MANAGED CARE September 2010. ©MediMedia USA
Good news for people who work in the health insurance industry: Median salary budgets (the total available budget to invest in employees through salary) for 2011 are expected to rise 2.9 percent for executives and 3 percent for all other employee levels, the Hay Group reports. Last year, the median salary budget increased 2 percent for executives and 2.5 percent for all other employees.
“There is a lot of opportunity for medical and pharmacy directors on the insurance side of health business,” says C.J. Bolster, national director of the Hay Group’s health care practice.
“Chief medical officers’ responsibilities and duties are diverse,” Bolster points out, “and the CMOs who can put practices and systems in place for their organizations and really manage care and outcomes are going to be at the forefront of health reform.” How does that affect compensation? “They’re going to bust these numbers wide open,” says Bolster, “especially if an organization has to recruit or retain them.”
“Organizations that have better outcomes, greater efficacy, and lower costs than their competitors are going to do better than companies that aren’t quite as good,” Bolster adds. For clinical executives who can deliver the goods, “the conversations will not be about running surveys and collecting data — they’re going to be about where do you want to work and how much do you want to be paid.”-
This year’s salaries
The Hay Group surveyed 66 health insurance and Blue Cross & Blue Shield organizations this year and compiled salary data for about 88,000 employees.
Source: “2010 Health Insurance Survey,” Hay Group