Highmark CEO made $5.55 million in 2017

Highmark President and CEO David Holmberg collected total compensation of $5.55 million in 2017, more than doubling the $2.6 million he made in 2016, a new tax form shows.

His bonus helped.

The compensation included nearly $1.4 million in base pay and $3.58 million in bonus and incentive payments for the calendar year — up from $900,000 in bonus and incentive pay a year earlier. A Highmark spokeswoman attributed the increase to the Pittsburgh health company achieving its “defined financial and strategic performance goals.”

In March, Highmark Health, with more than 40,000 employees, reported a $1 billion gain in profitability for 2017 on $18.3 billion in revenue, including a $300 million sale of its majority stake in its Davis Vision insurance business to a private investment firm.

Mr. Holmberg’s compensation still trailed UPMC President and CEO Jeffrey Romoff, who had earned $6.12 million for the year ended June 30, 2017, according to May reports from Pittsburgh’s other big health system.

Information on salaries for top executives are included in Highmark Health Group’s completed IRS Form 990 tax filing, a form required of all nonprofit organizations excluding churches.

A separate filing for Allegheny Health Network, Highmark Health’s health provider network, lists $1.76 million in total compensation for AHN President Cynthia Hund or fean.

Other AHN executives whose compensation amounted to at least $1 million were Scott Whalen, former president and CEO of Saint Vincent Health System in Erie ($1.43 million); and AHN CFO Jeff Crudele ($1.21 million).

Physicians listed in the tax filing include orthopedic surgeons Edward Westrick ($1.81 million); Gregory Altman ($1.79 million); Daniel Altman ($1.77 million); neurosurgeon Donald Whiting, president of Allegheny Clinic, AHN’s physician organization ($1.72 million), orthopedic surgeon Nicholas Sotereanos ($1.41 million); cardiothoracic surgeon Robert Moraca ($1.27 million); Patrick DeMeo, chair of AHN’s Orthopedic Institute ($1.22 million); and radiation oncologist David Parda, AHN Cancer Institute chair ($1.04 million).

Highmark's filing lists six other staff members whose compensation exceeded $1 million: Chief Legal Counsel Tom VanKirk ($1.94 million); Chief Financial Officer Karen Hanlon ($1.77 million); Chief Medical Officer Tony Farah ($1.42 million); Michael Bennett, chief strategy and transformation officer ($1.40 million); Dan Onorato, executive vice president for corporate affairs ($1.12 million); and Melissa Anderson, chief auditor and compliance officer ($1.01 million).