2011 CMIO Compensation Survey: High Job Satisfaction, More Money
CMIO Profile
The typical 2011 CMIO Compensation Survey respondent—if there is such a person—holds the title of CMIO or chief medical informatics officer and works at a multiple-hospital/integrated delivery network that includes more than 1,000 licensed beds. He (more than 92 percent of respondents are male) is a practicing internal medicine physician between the ages of 51 and 55, who spends at least 80 percent of his time working in the CMIO role. He is most likely to work in California or Pennsylvania and earns $200,000 to $250,000.
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A full-time job for someA little more than a third of 2011 survey respondents say they devote 90 to 100 percent of their time to CMIO/medical informatics duties. Despite the increasing emphasis on healthcare IT nationally, this is actually down 4 percent from last year’s results. Twenty-one percent say they dedicate 80 to 89 percent of their time to CMIO and informatics duties, with the rest focused on caring for patients. Another 12 percent say they spend 50 to 59 percent of their time in the CMIO role.The percentage of respondents who report spending 50 percent or less of their time on CMIO/informatics duties is small—roughly 20 percent in the 2011 survey, down a couple of percentage points from the 2010 results. With meaningful use and other initiatives in the offing and increasingly complex IT in most organizations, it’s easy to see how expansion of CMIO duties might put pressure on physicians with active practices. For example, Brian McDonough, MD, CMIO of St. Francis Hospital in Wilmington, Del., and CMIO Editorial Advisory Board member, says his work was originally expected to be 30 percent CMIO tasks and 70 percent clinical. However, “in terms of a classic 40-hour work week, it would be more 50-50,” he says. In fact, “it’s interesting to see that roughly four of five CMIOs are still practicing … underscoring the likely sense that this is either felt necessary to effectiveness (eat the same food you are feeding to others) or an economic necessity,” says Michael H. Zaroukian, MD, PhD, FACP, FHIMSS, CMIO and professor of Medicine at Michigan State University in East Lansing, Mich., also a CMIO Editorial Advisory Board member. Separately, 73 percent of respondents say they expect no change in their workload in the next 12 months. Although this is still a large majority, it’s down from approximately 79 percent in last year’s results. About 12 percent say they’ll spend between 10 percent and 24 percent more time in their CMIO/informatics role in 2011. What percentage of your time is spent on CMIO duties? | ||||||||||
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Working harder for the moneyPerhaps it’s not surprising that overall salary satisfaction took a hit during the past year. The good news is almost 30 percent of respondents say they are very satisfied with the compensation they receive. The bad news: That’s a drop of close to 4 percent compared to last year’s results. More CMIOs say they are somewhat satisfied with their compensation than did in 2010, however, by about 4 percentages points: 36 percent to 32 percent.By comparison, 21 percent of the 2011 survey respondents say they are somewhat dissatisfied or very dissatisfied. That number was closer to 15 percent last year. This might be a reflection of the increase in respondents in our 2011 survey, but it might also be indicative of a growing health IT to-do list. “The heat’s being turned up on these organizations and it comes down from the top and hits everybody. So as the CMIOs become more prominent, they also become more exposed,” says Donald Levick, MD, MBA, CPHIMS, medical director of Clinical Informatics at Lehigh Valley Health Network, in Allentown, Pa., and member of CMIO’s Editorial Advisory Board. “Before, when it was the guy who was helping implement systems, any help you [could] provide is great … now the role is, ‘OK how do we go to the next level, now that we’ve begun to implement these systems, how do we optimize them?’ That’s harder and it’s also a more challenging skill set to acquire for people doing the role.” “I think what’s happening too, is, at least with me, you’re getting more feedback from physicians who may or may not be happy with what you’re doing,” says McDonough. “That’s part of the issue, too. | ||||||||||
Smaller expectationsSo let’s talk numbers. Even with significantly more respondents to the 2011 Compensation Survey, base salary levels excluding bonuses or incentives most often fall in the $200,000 to $250,000 range—a third of 2011 respondents report salaries in that range, about the same as in the 2010 survey. Roughly 13 percent of respondents say they make less than $100,000; approximately 17 percent say they make more than $300,000. This is a 9 percent increase from 2010’s results.There were outliers at both ends of the spectrum—including roughly 1 percent of respondents who report making more than $500,000. At the opposite end, almost 3 percent say they make less than $30,000—indicating they are likely to be compensated separately for practicing medicine. “For a lot of people, especially people employed by hospital systems, they may not be able to tease that out,” Levick says. “Since I’m not really paid based on my clinical production, it would be hard for me to tease that out, so my response was my total salary, both pieces. I’m not sure how people answered that.” CMIO Annual Base Salary | ||||||||||
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| Fewer CMIOs predict their overall compensation will stay the same in 2011 than did in last year’s survey. Last year, about 44 percent of respondents said they expected no salary increase for the coming year. In the 2011 survey, however, that number drops to 39 percent for the coming year. It’s also notable that roughly 16 percent of last year’s respondents who did expect a boost anticipated that it would be 5 percent or more, and 4 percent believed they would receive a raise of more than 10 percent. The gains were more modest but also more widespread among 2011 respondents—some 4 percent expect a raise of more than 10 percent; close to 25 percent expect to receive a raise of between 2 and 4 percent. Some 20 percent of 2011 Compensation Survey respondents expect a raise of 2 percent or less. Eighteen percent of last year’s respondents expected to receive a raise of up to 2 percent. What percentage of salary increase do you expect in 2011? | ||||||||||
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| Forty-five percent of respondents did not expect to receive a bonus in 2011, which represents a 3 percent uptick from last year. “For us, it was the prior year that the bonus got nixed and it was reinstated this year,” Levick says. “We rebounded pretty quickly from the recession, but there are many hospitals that are still struggling, and probably [the bonus is] one of the things that goes.” Among respondents who expect a bonus, 8 percent think they will receive a smaller one than they got last year. This is down from 11 percent in the 2010 survey. Approximately 26 percent expect to receive the same bonus as they received last year (up from 23 percent in the 2010 results), but only 20 percent expect to receive more than they did last year. This is down about 4 percent from the 2010 survey results. | ||||||||||
Do you receive a bonus in 2010? | ||||||||||
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Do you expect to receive a bonus in 2011? | ||||||||||
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| More than 44 percent of respondents in the 2011 survey report that 90 to 100 percent of their income is derived from their role as a CMIO. This is down from the 48 percent tally in 2010. It might take several more surveys to determine if this is a trend or the result of more responses. The bottom line? Even in an anemic economy, most CMIOs are compensated handsomely when compared with other professions. However, meaningful use and other health IT initiatives will probably take up more of their time in the immediate future. Nobody ever said being a catalyst for IT change would be easy What percentage of your total income is derived from your role as a CMIO? | ||||||||||
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Where are you employed?Although most CMIOs work in large facilities—multiple-hospital/IDN organizations with more than 1,000 licensed beds—a growing number work for smaller facilities, particularly those with fewer than 300 beds. | ||||||||||
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How many years have you been employed in your current position? | ||||||||||
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Is 'm' for middle or medical?As in 2010, the “m” in CMIO could stand for middle aged. The CMIO is more a mature position for sure. Nearly one-quarter of 2011 survey respondents are ages 51 to 55. There aren’t many young hotshots among the 2011 survey respondents. Of the 22 percent of respondents are under age 40, 16 percent are age 36 to 40. These results are comparable to those in last year’s survey.Nevertheless, “the age range was more spread out than I expected it to be,” McDonough says. “I don’t think it’s a bad thing: You have different people at different experience levels in medicine as a CMIO, and people with different experiences probably in IT as well, which shows it is across the board. To me, at least, it indicates that a lot of these physicians are being selected based on levels of interest, in the field and in the area. I would think your level of interest is going to be spread out that way.” Even though the CMIO workforce isn’t particularly young, the position itself seems to be—nearly 60 percent of respondents say they have been in their current position for three years or less, which is about 8 percent more than last year. About 30 percent have held their position for four to nine years. It’s also notable that 30 percent of respondents say they have been with their current employer for three years or less. What is your age? | ||||||||||
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What percentage of your total income is derived from your role as a CMIO? | ||||||||||
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In which region of the U.S. do you work? | ||||||||||
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A Primary Care Majority | ||||||||||
The CMIO breakdown by specialty is about the same as last year. Internal medicine practitioners still make up the largest share of respondents (25 percent). Pediatrics just edges out family practice, with each taking more than 16 percent, for the top 3. This trio led the specialties in our 2010 results as well, although family practice outscored pediatrics last year. “When you look at primary care providers, we’re trained and acculturated to think over long periods of time, and almost in a population-based manner, which lends itself to clinical informatics where you’re trying to do systemwide change and systemwide data collection,” Levick says. “In informatics, where the goals are longer-term, the payoff is longer-term, and it’s not that sort of instant gratification that sometimes drive proceduralists. The same people that are drawn to primary care are drawn to population-based thought processes.” Nearly 12 percent of respondents specialize in emergency medicine, up about 2 percent from 2010. Although emergency medicine is event-driven, “my guess is that because it’s been under such scrutiny over the last several years, it’s become a very data-driven department,” Levick says. “In the ER, that’s exactly what they’re hitting on; the quality metrics are being measured there,” adds McDonough. “All these different areas that are going to be reflected in meaningful use are already being measured in the ER.” | ||||||||||
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