As health IT salaries overall are steadily increasing, the gender pay gap appears to be widening. In 2006, women in health IT made 80.7 percent of what their male colleagues made. In 2015, women made just 78 percent of what their male colleagues made, according to a new report from HIMSS.
Over the past nine years, health IT salaries across the board have gone up, but where men's salaries increased at a compound annual growth rate of 1.16 percent, women's salaries only grew by a CAGR of 0.79 percent.
However, the report indicates the severity of pay disparities changes under certain conditions, which suggests compensation equity is possible.
The report analyzes two HIMSS Compensation surveys, one analyzing 2006 pay and the other analyzing 2015 pay.
Tenure trends from 2015 have reversed direction from tenure trends in 2006, but the gap has widened. Nine years ago, a longer tenure tended to have a wide pay gap: Women who had been in their positions for less than one year made 83.2 percent of male colleagues, but women who had been in their position for at least 15 years made just 77.7 percent of male colleagues. In 2015, though, women who had been in their positions for less than one year made 72.1 percent of their male colleagues, and women who had been in the positions for at least 15 years made 85.9 percent of male colleagues.
The pay gap also widens in more senior roles. Last year, women in non-management roles made 91.7 percent of what their male colleagues made, while women in senior or executive management roles made 85.5 percent of their male colleagues. These gaps are wider than what they were in 2006, when women in non-management roles made 93.7 percent of male colleagues and women in senior and executive management roles made 89.4 percent of male colleagues.
However, those in management positions actually saw the gender pay gap decrease. In 2005, women in management roles made 91.7 percent of their male colleagues, and in 2016 made 92.4 percent of their male colleagues.
Among hospital providers, other providers and vendors, women working with vendors are most closely paid to their male counterparts, making 91 percent of what their male colleagues do in 2015. Women health IT workers in hospitals make 77.5 percent of their male colleagues, and women health IT providers in other care settings make 73.1 percent of their male colleagues.
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