Finding and keeping executive talent is critical – but it’s not easy!
Modern Healthcare explores how health systems are staying competitive.
As operations grow more complex and the demand for strategic leadership rises, health care organizations are facing a shrinking pool of experienced candidates. To take on this challenge and stay competitive, many are increasing compensation, developing talent from within, working to reduce turnover, and more.
Featuring data from SullivanCotter’s 2025 Health Care Management and Executive Compensation Survey, Modern Healthcare’s annual deep dive into executive compensation outlines the top five takeaways from this year’s survey findings:
- Total cash compensation is rising
- Operational and strategic roles are more important than ever
- Executive turnover remains a challenge
- Executive positions are becoming more complex
- Organizations still want to promote from within
See what our experts have to say!
“Organizations are balancing what is a complex, challenging operating and financial environment with what is still a highly competitive executive talent market.” – Bruce Greenblatt, Executive Workforce Practice Leader
“Jobs that are core to financial operations and efficiency measures, including pharmacy and ambulatory care executives, are seeing higher demand.” – Jeff Sprague, Principal
Looking for the latest survey data?
We know your organization is navigating a tight talent market and complex economic landscape. You need the right data to recruit and retain executive-level leaders with the right mix of skills to lead through such challenging times.
For more than 30 years, our longstanding Health Care Management and Executive Compensation Survey has provided data-driven benchmarks on executive and management compensation to help organizations make informed decisions on pay, incentive program design, and more.
Report Highlights
- Data from more than 3,300 organizations on nearly 48,000 individuals
- Inclusion of approximately 350 reported jobs
- Base salary, total cash compensation, and total direct compensation
- Insight into annual and long-term incentive plan design, including performance measures, award opportunities, and payouts
- National compensation data reported by organization type and size with regional and sub-regional breakouts for subsidiary hospitals
- Regression equations by organization type
