It’s just like how it sounds : a medical director directs a medical practice.  These individuals are responsible for the daily clinical care that goes on.  In large organizations, there may be multiple medical directors; one for each division.  For example, a Medical Director of Infectious Disease or Medical Director of Family Practice.

You can also be a Medical Director for a nursing home in which you would be responsible for the residents that live there and for all of the nursing care given there.  A Medical Director of a pharmaceutical company may lead a team toward development of a drug or through a regulatory process.  I even found a Medical Director position for a medical education company that develops CME content.

The median compensation for physician executives in a Medical Director role is $251,000.  However, the pay varies widely.  Here are a few examples of actual salaries of medical directors :

• Robert Spence, Medical Director at Good Samaritan Hospital – $313.799
• Thomas Graham, Medical Director at Union Memorial Hospital – $750,844
• Dr. Gilbert Kilman – Medical Director at Epocrates – $102,074
• Dr. Frances Fergusson – Medical Director at Pfizer – $209,940

The must-haves for this position is your MD/DO degree, clinical experience, and management experience.  The amount of years required for experience can range from 3 years to 7+ years.  If you are looking for a pharmaceutical medical director role, these positions also require research related experience.

Medical Directors are involved more closely with clinical care than upper-level executives.  Their position requires good management skills combined with sound clinical knowledge.  It can be a very rewarding experience to lead a close team of healthcare professionals at the point of care.  Or if you prefer pharmaceuticals or educational, you’ll work with a diverse group of people.

Sources
NonClinicalJobs.com, “Medical/Scientific Director for a CME Company in Newtown, PA”
Forbes.com, “Gilbert Kilman”
Forbes.com, “Framces Fergusson”
Health Cost Services Review Commission, “IRS 990 Compensation Summary of the Maryland Hospital Industry’s Top 5 Paid People Per Hospital
ACPE, “2009 Physician Executive Compensation Survey”

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With President Obama’s Healthcare Reform, clinical practices everywhere are scrambling to convert their paper charts into electronic medical records.  This is unknown territory and people are looking for a leader to guide them.  That’s where a Chief medical Information Officer comes in.

New companies are creating their own “Best EMR” system.  As the CMIO, you strategize plans to choose an EMR based on your company’s needs, formulate an implementation plan, and oversee the transition process.  Afterwards, you’ll continue to support the development of clinical informatics at the institution.

Pay varies widely but the general consensus is that CMIO’s earn $200,000 to $300,000 per year.  CEJKA reported that the average base salary in 2008 was $253,521 and the average total compensation was $315,730.  The largest base salary reported on their website was $400,000.  The largest total compensation reported?  $600,000.

CMIO.net released the results of their 2010 survey which supports the CEJKA survey.  They found that greater than 48% of physicians made more than $200,000 dollars.

Leaders in this position typically have a passion for technology.  Many physicians have several years of experience in medical informatics.  Some physicians have advanced degrees such as an MBA or MHA.  Several universities now offer a Masters in Medical Informatics which can give you an edge in the field.

An interesting training opportunity is doing a 1-2 year Fellowship in Medical Informatics.  At least this way, you can get a small stipend during your training compared to getting into more debt if you get your masters degree.

[ October 2011 update ]
Now, Clinical Informatics is recognized by the American Board of Medical Specialties.  This means that you can now take an exam and become board certified in Clinical Informatics!  It’s a new way for physicians to give credit to their expertise in the medical technology profession.  Read more information about it in our article, here.

Chief Medical Information Officers are physician technologists.  They are the go-to person in times of technological advancement.  If you enjoy leading others and working with the latest computer technology, consider this career.

Sources
CEJKA Executive Search, “2008 CMIO and Physician IT Survey Report”
CMIO.net, “CMIO 2010 Compensation Survey”

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Executive Vice Presidents are the right hand man of a CEO.  Second from the top of the corporate ladder, an Executive VP is responsible for making sure the company runs smoothly according to the CEO’s wishes.  They are the leader of all the Vice Presidents in the company.

By far, the highest salaries for Executive VP’s come from non-clinical organizations such as Pharmaceuticals and Clinical Research Organizations.

Physician salaries in this position range from 300k to nearly 1 million dollars.  See some of the hard facts below :

• Dr. Christine Dingivan, Executive VP of PPDi – $893,025
• Mr. Joseph Kleine, Executive VP of Epocrates – $739,783
• Dr. Steven Frisch, Executive VP of Albany Medical Center – $671,529

If you’re interested in getting this position in the healthcare industry, you’re best bet is to have solid management skills, clinical experience, and industry knowledge.  If you’d like to pursue this job in the pharmaceuticals industry, you’ll need more research and drug trials related experience.  Some executives have 7+ years of experience prior to rising to a VP level.

An MBA might help you get there faster.  There are also several MBA programs that concentrate in Pharmaceutical Management that will help get your foot in the door.

Executive Vice Presidents are important leaders in their organization.  They run the company as a Chief Executive Officer’s right hand man and require years of industry-related experience.  Salaries can range from 300k to 1 million dollars.

Sources
Rotterdamy.Info, Proposed Salary Caps for Hospital Executives
Forbes, Joseph B. Kleine
Forbes, Christine Dingivan

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Quality control.  Patient safety.  Minimize deaths.  Those are the main functions of a Chief Medical Officer in a hospital setting.  As a CMO, it’s your duty to make sure there are structures in place to keep patients as safe as possible.  Are they receiving the right care?  At the right time?  At the right place?

For CMOs in medical-tech companies, the responsibilities might be a little different.  Instead, you might be the “Go-To” person who can bring your clinical experience and tie it to the company product.  Your position can give credibility to a company selling anything that’s medically related.

How much do Chief Medical Officers make?  According to the ACPE / CEJKA Physician Executive Compensation Survey, CMOs have a median salary of $324,750 not including bonuses.  We’ve covered before that bonuses can be an average of 20% on top which totals the salary of a CMO to $389,700.

The salary can vary depending on geographic location, what specialty you’re board certified in, and what kind of organization you work for.

Here are a few physicians who are Chief Medical Officers and how much they make :

• Salary for any beginning CMO at Ventura County Medi-cal Managed Care – $190,000
• Dr. Randall E. Kaye, CMO of AVANIR Pharmaceuticals – $336,467 base salary; with bonuses = $856,817 total compensation
• Dr. Nancy Simonian, CMO of Millennium Pharmaceuticals – $390,271 base salary; with bonuses = $1,280,228 total compensation

Your number one attraction factor is your years of experience in clinical medicine.  If you haven’t cared for patients, it’s difficult to know first hand about what protocols work at the point of care, what hasn’t, what can be improved, and how you might approach it successfully.  Many companies require a minimum of 5 years of clinical practice experience.  Some prefer 7 years or more.  An MBA or MHA will help as well.

In my opinion, a Chief Medical Officer is an executive who still retains the full embodiment of our clinical training.  They are the ones who use that experience to ensure patient safety and improve clinical outcomes.  It may take a while to get this position, but it seems to be worth it.

Sources
ACPE / CEJKA 2009 Physician Executive Compensation Survey
WikiInvest, “Millennium Pharmaceuticals Inc Def 14A”
Forbes.com, “Randall E. Kaye”
County of Ventura, “Executive Compensation : Salary Recommendations”

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The Vice President of Medical Affairs is often times the liaison between the executive administration and the medical staff. As such, they are often seen as the leader of the entire medical staff including physicians, nurses, and technicians. Internal conflicts may arise and it is their responsibility to address it. In addition, positions have also required physicians to oversee quality assurance or continuing medical education.

You can still expect to do some clinical work with this job.  On average, 86% of your time may be devoted to administrative duties and only 14% to clinical.  It’s interesting that this position requires less clinical work than the Chief Executive Officer.

Unlike other positions, the salary can vary based on what’s your medical background.  An anesthesiologist in this position will make more than a family medicine physician.

In 2009, the median salary for a VP of Medical Affairs was $299,000 not including bonuses.  Executive bonuses can be as high as 30% of the base salary but the majority is about 20% or less.  If we use 20% as the magic number, the median salary would be $359, 880.

Here are two physicians I’ve found with public listings of their salaries :

• Dr. Robert Allen, VP of Medical Affairs for Rapid City Regional Hospital – $203,981
• Dr. Michael S. Ewer, VP of Medical Affairs for University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center – $306,200

Beyond our MD/DO degree, many of these positions are looking for 10+ years of experience in a management position.  Doing a job search on the internet for a VP of Medical Affairs shows that several companies require an MBA, MPH, or MHA.  Other job descriptions say they just prefer, not require, those extra degrees.

You might be saying, “Groan, I’ve got to go through more school?!”  But the return of investment can be worth your while.  Physician executives with an MBA degree have a 22% increase in salary over those without it.

A VP of Medical Affairs is the link between the hospital or company administration and the medical staff that work under them.  If you have good interpersonal skills, enjoy challenges around resolving internal conflict, you should consider this position.

Sources
ACPE / CEJKA 2009 Physician Executive Compensation Survey
Rapid City Journal, “Board: Regional salaries around mid-range”
The Texas Tribune, “Ofc/VP Medical Affairs Salaries at The University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center”

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A Chief Executive Officer is known as the big man [ or woman ] who runs an entire company. You’ll often see the titles of President or Chief Operating Officer having similar job descriptions. Technically, these 3 roles are different. With that said, there are times when the titles are used interchangeably and times where 3 different people occupy those roles in the same company.

Being in the top position means you’ll do lots of administrative work but that doesn’t get you off the hook for clinic. You may still be required to do some clinical duties. The average physician CEO devotes 74% of their time to administrative duties and 26% to clinical duties.

How much you can make as a CEO depends on what industry you’re in and the success of the company you run. Let’s look at the numbers below.

In 2009, the median compensation for CEOs was $383,500. In addition, executive bonuses have been reported up to 30 percent of their compensation with the majority of bonuses being up to 20%. Let’s use the 20% marker for our calculations and that brings the total compensation for a chief executive officer to a median potential of $460,200.

Here are a list of CEOs in different healthcare industries and their salaries :

• Dr. Charles Hart, CEO of Rapid City Regional Hospital in South Dakota [ where I did residency! ] – $547,870
• Dr. Herb Pardes, CEO of New York Presbyterian Hospital - $2.8 million
• Dr. Deborah Dunsire, CEO of Millennium Pharmaceuticals – $800,000 base salary
• Ian Read, CEO of Pfizer Pharmaceuticals – $3.9 million
• Rosemary Crane, CEO of Epocrates – $888,092

As a physician, we’re off to a great start because we have a terminal degree, an MD or a DO. We’ve already proven our determination, hard work ethic, and leadership qualities. What we lack, however, is formal business education. To lead a company of hundreds to thousands, employers look for an MBA or whether you’ve had direct management experience with successful outcomes.

Do you need an MBA? No. People have worked hard through sweat equity and risen the ranks to a CEO position before.

Can it help you get there faster? Absolutely. In a sea of resumes, an MBA can help you stand out. And, physician CEOs with MBAs have reported earning 22 percent greater than the median salary.

A Chief Executive Officer demands strong leadership and management skills responsible for steering a company towards success. The position can be extremely rewarding.  If you crave a position of power at the top of the executive ladder, a lucrative salary awaits you.

Sources
ACPE / CEJKA 2009 Physician Executive Compensation Survey
WikiInvest, “Agreement with Deborah Dunsire”
Rapid City Journal, “Board: Regional salaries around mid-range”
Crain’s New York Business, “When a $2.8 million salary isn’t enough”

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