The Eye-Popping Compensation of 5 High-Paid Hospital CEOs
Ensuring adequate wages for healthcare workers is an ongoing challenge—fair wages are associated with better job satisfaction, higher rates of patient satisfaction, and even healthier nurses. And yet the wage inequality gap between hospital CEOs and the healthcare workers performing direct patient care is drastic. In fact, Nurse.org previously reported in 2023 that the wages of only 11 North Carolina hospital CEOs were equal to the cost of hiring 572 nurses.
And hospital CEO salaries have only continued to increase. Last year’s top-earning hospital CEO, Andrew Witty with UnitedHealth Group, has been reported to have earned an annual compensation package of over $23 million between salary, stocks, and other compensations, which represents a 12.8% increase from Witty’s wages over the prior two years. In comparison, the mean wage of a Registered Nurse (RN) is $86,070. It’s also very rare for hospital CEOs or even board members to have any direct patient care experience—a 2023 study found that ⅔ of non-profit hospital boards do not even have a single nurse.
Hospital CEOs have always been paid generously, but as their wages continue to increase while some patient outcomes continue to be poor and nurses’ overall job satisfaction decreases, there has been a growing focus to assess if hospital CEO’s high compensation is justified. For instance, NPR analyzed if the high wages of CEOs at non-profit hospitals are actually associated with better patient care or even more community benefits—a large part of what non-profit hospitals are supposed to do—and couldn’t fully conclude the best answer.
The short answer is that even non-profit hospitals have to operate with a profit margin in order to continue operating at all, and the culture of healthcare currently demands CEOs who expect high compensation. Whether that culture will continue or demand change is yet to be seen.
1. Andrew Witty with UnitedHealth Group
UnitedHealth Group is a for-profit healthcare system that operates both healthcare facilities and has a healthcare insurance program. Witty was reported to receive the following compensation in 2023,
- Salary: $1,500,000
- Bonuses and incentives: $15,000,970; Option awards: $5,000,114; Non-equity incentive plan: $1,800,000; Other compensation: $233,852
- Total: $23,534,936
Under Witty’s leadership, UnitedHealth Group hit $22 billion in profits in 2023. However, in 2024, the healthcare group struggled under cyberattacks, which led Witty to make the decision to pay $22 million in Bitcoin ransom fees.
At a hearing about the attack, Rick Pollack, president and CEO of the American Hospital Association remarked that the attack “rightly exposed the size and scope of UnitedHealth Group, the parent company of Change Healthcare, and how that has affected – and could further affect – the delivery of healthcare for our nation. We believe this examination is long overdue.”
2. Samuel N. Hazen – HCA Healthcare
With 219 hospitals, HCA Healthcare is the largest health system in the country. It is a for-profit healthcare system. Hazen was reported to receive the following compensation,
- Base Salary: $1,512,222
- Bonuses and Incentives: Stock awards: $6,957,391; Option awards: $7,242,825; Non-equity incentive plan compensation: $5,026,128; Other compensation: $577,418
- Total Compensation: $21,315,984
According to HCA’s 2023 annual shareholder’s report, HCA’s cash flows increased from $8.522 billion in 2022 to $9.431 billion in 2023. Revenues also increased to $64.968 billion for 2023 from $60.233 billion for 2022, which the report noted was due to an increase in admissions and a corresponding increase in revenue for each admission. Hazen has invested in nursing education specifically by purchasing the majority of the stakeholder ownerships of the Galen College of Nurses as well as more technology.
3. Saum Sutaria, MD, Tenet Healthcare
Dr. Sutaria is one of the rare physician hospital CEOS on our list. Dr. Sutaria spearheads Tenet Healthcare, which is a for-profit healthcare services organization based in Texas. The organization owns 65 hospitals and over 450 healthcare facilities. Sutaria was reported to receive the following compensation in 2023,
- Base Salary: $1,500,000 million
- Bonuses and Incentives: $10.1 million in stock awards; $6.3 million in nonequity incentive plan compensation; others compensation included retirement contributions and company aircraft privileges
- Total Compensation: $18,518,109
Sutaria has focused on building up highly-valued acute care hospitals with high acuity services, which led to a potential deal of selling four of its hospitals to UCI Health for $975 million, following a prior successful $2.4 billion sale of three hospitals to Novant Health. The company also has built up high-return ambulatory care centers and reported a net income of $224 million in the last quarter.
4. Greg A. Adams with Kaiser Permanente
Kaiser Permanente operates 40 hospitals across the United States and is the largest non-profit healthcare system in the U.S. These hospitals are located in several states, including California, Colorado, the District of Columbia, Georgia, Hawaii, Maryland, Oregon, Virginia, and Washington. Adams was reported to receive the following compensation,
- Base Salary: $15,562,224
- Bonuses and Incentives: not listed
- Total Compensation: $17,268,06
Kaiser’s most recent report shares that the hospital system invested $3.1 billion in 2023 to community health programs, compared to $2.8 billion the year prior. Kaiser’s overall income also increased to $4.1 billion in 2023 compared to a net loss of $4.5 billion for 2022.
5. Marc Miller, Universal Health Services
Universal Health Services (UHS) is an American Fortune 500 company that owns hospitals and healthcare facilities across the U.S. Miller was reported to receive the following salary and compensation,
- Base salary: $1,400,000 million
- Other compensation: $9,900 equity compensation; retirement, entertainment services
- Total compensation: $14,407,937
Marc Miller is the son of UHS’s founder, Alan Miller, whose family is worth a reported $2.5 billion dollars. Miller took over the company in 2021 when his father stepped down from his role. UHS reported $14.3 billion in revenues and a $718 million net profit in 2023. In August 2024, Miller was named one of the top 10 healthcare CEOs transforming healthcare by The CEO Forum.
| CEO Name | Employer | Total Compensation |
| Andrew Witty | UnitedHealth Group | $23,534,936 |
| Samuel N. Hazen | HCA Healthcare | $21,315,984 |
| Saum Sutaria, MD | Tenet Healthcare | $18,518,109 |
| Greg A. Adams | Kaiser Permanente | $17,268,060 |
| Marc Miller | Universal Health Services | $14,407,937 |
It’s difficult to compare hospital CEO compensation packages to other sectors, because healthcare is such a unique sector, even within itself. For instance, the business models of hospitals and healthcare organizations operating as non-profits could look different from those operating as for-profit. Hospitals’ financials are also dependent on things like insurance and government program reimbursements and individual payees vs other sectors that operate on a business model.
There isn’t a clear answer on what the “right” number for a hospital CEO’s salary should be. Some argue that because there is such inconsistency in healthcare models—and because many hospitals legally must treat people even if they can’t pay—it’s necessary to pay CEOs high salaries to lead healthcare facilities in a way that they can earn profits and cover expenses and emergencies, like an unexpected global pandemic.
Others argue that the wage disparity among CEOs and direct healthcare workers has gotten too large, especially since the pandemic, and must be re-examined, especially in a cost vs. benefit scenario. For example, high hospital CEO salaries are not directly correlated with better patient care or even more effective or beneficial community programs, which non-profit hospitals especially are supposed to focus on.
It’s also interesting to consider that the high wages of hospital CEOs could be an indication of the fact that despite the belief and values of most Americans that healthcare should not be a money-making business, it undoubtedly is.
What do you think? Are hospital CEO wages—especially at non-profit healthcare organizations justified? Or should hospital CEO wages be lowered to allocate more funds to things like staff retention programs or community-based programs? Email your remarks to info@nurse.org or join the conversation on Instagram.
