The total median compensation for physicians in leadership roles in 2016 was $350,000, according to the latest Physician Leadership Compensation Survey, representing a gain of 8 percent since the last survey was conducted in 2013.
While fairly consistent with growth over the past seven years, it lags the pre-recession two-year growth rates of 12 percent reported in 2007.
The new survey results were announced by Cejka Executive Search, in partnership with the American Association for Physician Leadership.
[Also: Healthcare adds 31,000 jobs in August, though nursing homes shed staff]
Paul Esselman, Cejka Executive Search's senior EVP and managing director, said in a statement that, due to reform and the focus on cost containment, he doesn't expect physician leader compensation to return to those pre-recession growth rates.
"However," he said, "there are emerging roles in response to the shift toward value-based care that provide physician leaders with significantly greater opportunities for earnings, as well as strategic input and organizational influence."
An organization's CEO isn't always the highest-paying job, the survey found. The highest-paid physician executives on average earned $499,000, and served in emerging roles that include physician in chief, chief strategy officer, chief transformational officer, chief innovation officer and chief integration officer. CEOs earned an average of $437,500, up 7 percent from the previous survey.
[Also: Big salary gap between men, women in healthcare management]
Chief information officers saw their average earning increase from $315,000 in 2013 to $372,500, an 18 percent gain -- the highest gain of any leadership role. Chief medical officers saw a 6 percent gain ($388,000), while patient safety officers remained flat at $375,000.
The sizeable increase in salary for chief information officers, according to the survey, can be explained by the roles' shift in focus -- from electronic medical records implementation to ensuring the usability of data to support preventative care at the individual provider level, and risk-based accountable care at the enterprise-level.
Those who operate at a system-wide level, hold post-graduate degrees or certifications, or whose compensation is most aligned with organizational goals also earned more. For example, physician leaders working at the corporate or parent-level of a health system saw an average 67 percent spike in median compensation since 2013. As compared to physician leaders with no post-graduate degrees, a master's in business administration earned respondents, on average, 13 percent more, and a certified physician executive on average earned 4 percent more. And leaders who allocated more time to administration and whose performance-based pay was a higher percentage of total compensation earned more as well.
[Also: Average healthcare IT salary tops $87,000, job tracker survey finds]
Outside of the C-suite, the highest three-year pay gain was 26 percent for physician leaders focused on clinical initiatives serving as president of the medical staff or medical director, assistant or associate. The number of respondents in these positions also rose as a percent of total physician leaders, from 5 percent in 2013 to 8 percent in 2016.
Twitter: @JELagasse