Most of the top-earning executives, including CEOs and CFOs, at four of the largest for-profit health systems in the U.S. saw their overall compensation increase in 2023, according to proxy statements recently filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission.
Seven things to know about executive compensation at HCA Healthcare (Nashville, Tenn.), Community Health Systems (Franklin, Tenn.), Tenet Healthcare (Dallas) and Universal Health Services (King of Prussia, Pa.):
Editor’s note: Total compensation can include salary, bonuses, stock and option awards, change in pension value and nonqualified deferred compensation earnings and other compensation.
1. HCA CEO Sam Hazen saw his overall compensation rise to $21.3 million in 2023. The second-highest earning CEO was Tenet’s Saum Sutaria, MD, ($18.5 million) followed by UHS CEO and President Marc Miller ($14.4 million) and CHS CEO Tim Hingtgen ($8.3 million).
2. The CEOs and CFOs of all four health systems saw compensation packages drop substantially in 2022, according to proxy statements filed with the SEC. However, most of the top-earning executives saw their overall compensation rebound in 2023 as financial results improved.
3. The CEOs of the four systems earned compensation packages of more than $63 million combined in 2023, compared to about $43 million in 2022 and $65 million in 2021.
4. At $9.3 million, Dan Cancelmi, who retired at the end of 2023, was the highest-earning CFO among the four health systems last year. HCA CFO Bill Rutherford saw his overall compensation rise to $7.8 million, UHS CFO Steve Filton’s compensation grew to $4.7 million. CHS CFO Kevin Hammons was the only financial leader to see a drop in overall compensation to $3.8 million.
5. Here are the three other highest-earning executives at each of HCA, CHS, Tenet and UHS last year:
HCA
Jon Foster, EVP and COO: $8.7 million
Timothy McManus, president, national group: $5.6 million
Erol Akdamar, president, American group: $5.4 million
Tenet
Tom Arnst, EVP, CAO, general counsel and corporate secretary: $3.7 million
Lisa Foo, executive vice president, commercial operations: $3.2 million
Paola Arbour, EVP and CIO: $2.5 million
CHS
Lynn Simon, MD, president of clinical operations and chief medical officer: $2.1 million
Chad Campbell, regional president: $1.7 million
Kevin Stockton, EVP of operations and development: $1.6 million
UHS
Alan Miller, executive chair: $8.4 million
Edward Sim, EVP and president of acute care: $5.5 million
Matthew Peterson, executive vice president and president of behavioral health: $4 million
6. CHS, HCA, Tenet and UHS operate more than 330 acute care hospitals and reported over $112 billion in revenue combined in 2023. HCA posted $65 billion in revenue, up 8% over the previous year; CHS’ revenue increased 2.3% to $12.5 billion; Tenet’s revenue increased 7.2% to $20.5 billion; and UHS’ revenue grew by 6.6% to $14.3 billion.
7. Net income for HCA hit $5.2 billion in 2023, down from $5.6 billion the previous year; CHS’ was $16 million, down from $179 million; Tenet’s net income rose from $1 billion to $1.3 billion; and UHS’ reported $719.3 million in net income, up from $656.9 million in 2022.
