Pay raises for many Massachusetts hospital executives increased faster than the rate of state healthcare spending in 2014, according to filings with the Internal Revenue Service, the Boston Globe reported.
Boston-based Brigham and Women's Hospital President Elizabeth G. Nabel, MD, had the greatest increase in pay that year. Her total compensation totaled $5.4 million in 2014, up 119 percent from her $2.5 million compensation package in 2013, according to the report. Most of the raise was due to an increased in deferred compensation in 2014, the year she vested in a retirement plan managed by Boston-based Partners HealthCare, Brigham and Women's corporate parent.
Gary Gottlieb, MD, former president and CEO of Partners, reported a 19 percent increase in total pay in 2014, reaching $3.1 million, according to the report. Other executives — including those at Burlington-based Lahey Health, Boston-based Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center, Boston Medical Center and Boston-based Tufts Medical Center — reported pay raises ranging from 7.1 percent to 70 percent, according to the report. Michael Wagner, MD, president of Tufts Medical Center, saw his pay package increase 70 percent to $1 million in 2014.
In comparison, overall healthcare spending in Massachusetts rose by about 4.8 percent in 2014, according to the state Center for Health Information and Analysis, the Boston Globe found. This growth rate exceeded a 3.6 percent target ceiling growth rate set by the commonwealth's legislature in 2012.
In defense of the swelling compensation packages, Partners Chairman Edward P. Lawrence said in a statement, "We must provide competitive wages and benefits in order to attract and retain the best individuals at a time when healthcare is undergoing sweeping change. The competition for excellent managers and leaders is especially strong at this time."
Other Partners executives, including David Torchiana, MD, who succeeded Dr. Gottlieb at the helm of Partners last year, reported a 48 percent decrease in pay in 2014. Peter L. Slavin, president of Massachusetts General Hospital, saw his compensation decline by 6 percent from the year before. Changes in retirement vesting amounts led to the pay reductions for both executives, according to the report.