Nashville, Tenn.-based HCA Healthcare CEO Sam Hazen was paid 356 times more than the health system's median employee in 2023, according to a proxy statement filed March 15 with the Securities and Exchange Commission.
The 2023 annual total compensation of HCA's median compensated employee was $59,816. Mr Hazen's total compensation was $21,315,984. The ratio of these amounts was 356:1.
As of Dec. 31, HCA had 306,677 employees that received compensation in 2023. To identify the median compensated employee, the company used a consistently applied compensation measure that included total gross payroll wages received. Pay was annualized for permanent employees not employed for a full year in 2023.
After Mr. Hazen, COO Jon Foster and CFO Bill Rutherford were the highest earners at HCA in 2023. Their total compensation was $8,699,360 and $7,763,050, respectively.
HCA said in the filing that the pay ratio is a "reasonable estimate calculated in a manner consistent with SEC rules" based on its payroll and employment records.
The SEC requires public companies to disclose how CEO pay stacks up with the median employee's overall compensation each year.
In 2022, HCA's CEO-to-worker pay ratio was 254, according to that year's SEC filing.