What is it about being a CEO of a psychiatric hospital in Ontario that warrants much greater compensation than executives of similar-sized general hospitals?
Last month we took a look at who was making more than double the Premier’s salary. While not uniform, most CEOs in that compensation range worked for very large hospitals, such as Bob Bell, who earned $753,992 in compensation for helming the University Health Network, which has an operating budget of about $1.8 billion, or Jack Kitts who earned $630,485 on a budget of $866 million as CEO of The Ottawa Hospital.
What was more surprising was that two of four major stand-alone psychiatric hospitals placed leaders on this list. Of the four CEOs, only one lists a clinical background in her on-line curriculum vitae. Dr. Catherine Zahn, President and CEO of Centre for Addiction and Mental Health (CAMH), is a practising neurologist. Glenna Raymond (Ontario Shores), Carol Lambie (Waypoint) and George Weber (Royal Ottawa Group) are career administrators. Weber has an MBA with extensive advanced management training. Raymond states she is a certified health executive. Lambie is a certified general accountant, although her contract calls on her to finish her MBA by the end of 2011.
These qualifications are not unusual among Ontario hospital CEOs, yet two of four appear to be collecting compensation that is far beyond those at comparable sized facilities.
CAMH has annual expenditures of about $325 million, yet Zahn earns $674,999 — more than $200,000 in excess of compensation paid to Lakeridge Health CEO Kevin Empey, who toiled away for $458,920 in 2011. Lakeridge has about $420 million in annual expenditures.
Empey might think himself grossly underpaid compared to Ontario Shores’ Raymond. Raymond’s psychiatric hospital spends about $117 million per year, yet Raymond is listed on the sunshine list has having earned $456,241. Carol Lambie, the President and CEO of Waypoint Centre for Mental Health Sciences, might also see herself as underpaid at $289,213 in 2011 compared to Raymond. Lambie’s hospital spent about $103 million last year – close in scope and size to Ontario Shores.
Raymond’s compensation may be particularly hard to explain when George Weber, CEO of the much larger Royal Ottawa Group, is compensated nearly $100,000 less at $360,938. The Royal Ottawa has a budget to spend about $162 million annually and manages facilities in both Ottawa and Brockville.
At a $365,000 base salary, Raymond took home a whopping bonus of more than $91,000 – the 25 per cent maximum allowable under her contract.
For that you’d expect Ontario Shores to be posting some impressive numbers – bonus compensation is supposed to be connected to performance, right?
As we have pointed out repeatedly, Ontario Shores does a dismal job around staff safety. In a comparison chart with the four mental health and addictions hospitals, Ontario Shores has dramatically higher levels of lost time injury in 2010-11 than either the Royal Ottawa or CAMH. The absenteeism rate is presently highest among the four hospitals. Prevalence of physical restraints based on resident assessment is about four times as high as CAMH and higher than the Royal Ottawa. Use of pharmaceutical restraints was the second highest for 2010-11. Ontario Shores had the highest readmission rates among the four hospitals.
If you look at the hospital’s own scorecard for 2010-11 (likely the basis for deciding 2011 bonus compensation reflected in the sunshine list), there is plenty of red to indicate that targets are not being met on staff training, outpatient wait times, hand hygiene compliance, critical injuries, alternate level of care and more.
Lambie’s contract is older than Raymond’s, and likely she received at least one cost of living increase before the legislative freeze. Only 3 per cent of her contract is subject to bonus, and it appears she also received it despite also posting some terrible numbers.
Only Waypoint beats Ontario Shores’ on lost time injuries in 2010-11, although the first three quarters of 2011-12 (the latest for which numbers are posted) do show improvement. Lambie’s hospital has the worst record for physical restraints and second highest for staff absenteeism.
How does the comparable compensation look for CEOs of various-sized general hospitals? Here’s some examples:
- Todd Stepanuik, former CEO of the Perth and Smith’s Falls District Hospital earned $193,542 taking care of a $50 million a year budget.
- Noel Pierre, CEO of the Pembroke Regional Hospital, has a budget of $82 million and was compensated $293,575 in 2011.
- Ken Tremblay, CEO of Peterborough Regional Health Centre, earned $380,000 on a hospital budget of $233 million.
- Rik Ganderton, CEO of Rouge Valley Health System earned $453,162 taking care of two hospitals in Scarborough and Pickering. Annual expenditures are about $317 million.
It’s true that CAMH has a reputation well beyond its financial size and scope. Most people we have spoken with don’t have a clue where to find Ontario Shores. It’s in Whitby.
Clearly there should be some questions asked when a CEO stands out in this crowd.