When The Oregonian published a list of the top paid executives at Oregon’s universities, they only looked at the base salaries paid to the top executives, not their actual take-home pay which included bonuses and incentive payments.
This was particularly true of Oregon Health & Science University whose president, Dr. Joe Robertson, brought home $1.7 million is fiscal 2016, representing a 12.2 percent increase. The Oregonian ranked Robertson as fourth among the highest paid executives, saying he earned $959,240.
Other officials at OHSU also took home higher paychecks than reported by The Oregonian, including Dr. Mark Richardson, MBA, executive vice president and dean of OHSU’s School of Medicine, Lawrence Furnstahl, executive vice president and chief financial officer and Dr. Jeannette Mladenovic, MBA, MACP, executive vice president and provost.
All told, the seven highest paid executives at OHSU together took home slightly more than $6.6 million in compensation during fiscal 2016, according to financial information released to The Lund Report.
By the end of this fiscal year – on July 1, 2017 – OHSU projects having a net worth of more than $3 billion, according to Furnstahl.
Recently, OHSU’s board approved its fiscal year 2017 budget, which includes operating revenue of $2,814 million, up 6 percent from the previous year and operating expense of $2,689 million, also up 6 percent with operating income (revenue minus expense) of $125 million, which OHSU intends to invest in its capital budget -- new buildings, renovations, equipment and computers. That budget includes capital expenditures of $193 million for new projects.
OHSU’s hospital also expects to generate a gross operating margin of 12 percent, Furnstahl told the board, with half of those dollars allocated to research and education, leaving the reminder for reinvestment in the clinical enterprise.
The budget for OHSU Partners – which includes its hospital, Salem Health, and Tuality Health -- is expected to rise 8 percent to $2.7 billion, generating $254 million of operating income, with OHSU having a fixed percentage share of $208 million. Portland Adventist recently signed a letter of intent to join OHSU Partners.
State Executive Salaries
The Oregonian article mentioned that salaries of state officials were not included among the top 22 highest paid executives because ”they didn’t make enough to make the list,” and mentioned that Governor Kate Brown only had an annual salary of $96,600.
But the governor’s salary was far below what executives at the Oregon Health Authority took home. The highest paid employee at that agency was Dr. Rupert Goetz, the chief medical director at the Oregon State Hospital, who earned $263,000, followed by Greg Roberts, the hospital superintendent, at $236,000. Lynne Saxton, director of the OHA, earned $181,000 in 2016.
The number of highly paid managers has increased more remarkably -- the OHA now has 53 managers making more than $120,000, up from 24 in 2013. That growth cannot be attributable wholly to inflation -- the state had 45 managers making $110,000 or more in 2013.
Meanwhile, the number of employees pulling down at least $99,000 has increased 76 percent to 261 people. This contingent includes a large number of physicians at the state hospital, but almost half of the growth in this group is from management -- up from 76 in 2013 to 125 in 2016.
Diane can be reached at [email protected].
