Bellevue, Wash.-based Overlake Medical Center & Clinics is investing $23 million in its workforce, which includes retention bonuses and a minimum wage increase.

To recruit more employees, Tuscaloosa, Ala.-based DCH Health System is providing nurses with an $18,000 sign-on bonus, WVUA 23 reported Nov. 8.

As hospitals and health systems struggle with staff retention, some are increasing wages to attract employees.

To improve retention and recruitment, Bangor-based Northern Light Eastern Maine Medical Center is increasing its minimum wage to $17 an hour, which will affect nearly 2,000 employees, the Bangor Daily News reported Nov. 5.

As healthcare organizations struggle with employee burnout and staff retention, they're making several changes to compensation.

Amid staffing strain during the COVID-19 pandemic, many facilities are offering their employees bonuses to attract and retain staff and thank employees for their work.

Fishersville, Va.-based Augusta Health will spend $10.6 million on employee compensation improvements, which go into effect Dec. 5.

All 92,000 staff members of the University of Pittsburgh Medical Center are set to receive a $500 bonus to thank them for their work during the COVID-19 pandemic.

As prices continue to rise with inflation, some wages are also increasing. However, economists aren't predicting the classic wage-price spiral that historically occurs to keep inflation high, The Wall Street Journal reported Oct. 31. 

Cleveland-based health systems are offering incentive pay to nurses as they face staffing challenges amid the COVID-19 pandemic, according to cleveland.com, a news and information website.

Hauppauge, N.Y.-based Hallmark Health Care Solutions is providing hospitals with real-time reports of hourly nurse rates and other healthcare rates, according to an Oct. 21 news release obtained by Becker's.

Confluence Health in Wenatchee, Wash., is investing about $2.62 million in its employees by giving $625 bonuses to those who stayed on the job after the vaccination deadline, KPQ reported Oct. 21.

Nuvance Health reported a net loss of over $130 million last fiscal year while President and CEO John Murphy, MD, took home $12.8 million in fringe benefits, the News-Times reported Oct. 21.

The compensation and benefits package of Nashville General CEO Joseph Webb has been reduced in advance of contract negotiations after his increasing salary raised questions, the Tennessean reported Oct. 20.

A day before planning to picket, union nurses at Springfield, Mass.-based Mercy Medical Center decided on a tentative agreement with parent company Trinity Health. The agreement includes salary increases and a $10,000 retention bonus, the Boston Business Journal reported Oct. 20.

As many nurses and front-line workers go on strike during the staffing crisis, the Washington State Nurses Association laid out several actions Oct. 19 it recommends hospitals take to improve working conditions.

The Medscape Female Physician Compensation Report 2021 published Oct. 15 found male physician specialists earn 33 percent more than female counterparts. 

U.S. hospital and health system workers have been serving nearly two years on the front lines of the COVID-19 pandemic. To recognize these workers, organizations have offered bonus payments during the public health crisis. It has been part of an ongoing effort to retain and recruit employees as hospitals deal with staff shortages and burnout during surges of the virus.

Springfield, Ill.-based Hospital Sisters Health System is increasing its minimum wage to $15 an hour, which will affect about 3,000 employees in Wisconsin and Illinois.

Healthcare price transparency is the key to reducing healthcare costs and increasing employee wages, an act President Joe Biden is proposing in a final federal rule, Cynthia Fisher, founder of patientrightsadvocate.org and ViaCord, wrote in Barron's Oct. 14.