Physician Executive Salaries in USA

Leadership, responsibility, vision, innovation in clinical work flows and administration, corporate lifestyles and the works, the million dollar bonuses ;-), - if all these fall in your life's "To Do" list, then a Physician executive position is worth your thought...

To begin with, note that the term "Physician Executives" or executive physicians is a basket-term for various administrative and/or corporate positions that physicians hold with or without clinical duties.

We already looked at the incomes of at least one physician executive - that of the Chief Medical Information Officer (CMIO) . Examples of some other positions include - Chief Executive Officers (CEO) , Chief Operations Officer (COO), Chief Medical Officer (CMO), Vice President Medical Affairs, Vice-President of Quality, Vice President Sales etc.


I shall try to cover them individually as this blog ages and grays with me - but right now, we shall look up some general trends.

We gotta thank Cejka for these figures, which is a firm that specializes in specializes in recruiting healthcare executives and physicians and releases salary survey data every two years.

Here's how the national averages for Physician Executive Incomes look in the 2005 report:

• Board Chairmen: $310,000/-
• CEO / Presidents: $310,500/-
• Vice President Quality : $270,000
• VPMA: $243,000
• CMO: $265,750
• CMIO: $220,000

Source: Cejka Website

The lowest compensated physician executives were those who worked in government organizations, making as low as $170,000/- a year. Source

The 2007 salary levels for physician executives rose by another 7.5% of the figures mentioned above.

Another interesting thing on the report was that, specialty-wise, the trends in physician executives earnings generally matched those of the clinical or non-executive physicians, but within the specialty, the executive physicians made more than the practicing physicians. For example, an MD executive in the area of Family medicine would earn less than the MD executive in area of Cardiac Care, but still earns significantly more than the practicing Family medicine MD. Supporting Facts ? the Cejka survey notes that physician executives in family practice, pediatrics, and psychiatry had the lowest compensation - making an annual $217,000, $217,000 and $202,000, respectively while nonexecutives in their specialties in the above specialties netted a national average of $164,209, $169,267, and $177,000, respectively.


Q. How to become a Physician Executive ?

A. I like to use this mnemonic for the qualities one must strive to accumulate for any executive position, You gotta be a PEOPLE's person :

P - Political skills
E - Experience
O - Overall Vision
P - Personality to match
L - Leadership
E - Education

Anyways, the first rule is to be a well experienced physician in your field - which calls for medical school, residency and a fellowship if needed and the works. Remember that the demand for a clinician on the management ladders is his/her close understanding of the clinical science, the clinical workflow, clinical quality and the clinical market.

Either during this education process or later, an MBA or other management degrees such as Masters in Health Administration (MHA) or Masters in Medical Management (MMM). These days, MBA programs specially geared for physician executives are cropping around the United States.

The Physician Executive career FAQs posted on the American College of Physician Executives provide an excellent overview of the type of education and career moves a physician should be thinking of to get into the executive shoes
Q. How much time do Physician Executives spend on Clinical Activities ?

A. Many Executive positions do have clinical duties, which averaging about 25 to 30% of their job time



Good Books for Future Physician Executives:

- Physicians as Leaders: Who, How, and Why Now?
- The Physician's Essential Mba: What Every Physician Leader Needs to Know
- Mega Options for Physicians: How Doctors Can Achieve Their Dreams by Moving into Non-Clinical Careers or Becoming Entrepreneurs

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