Female IT execs earn more than men, new survey shows

BUCKING AN INDUSTRY NORM, female information technology executives make more money than their male counterparts, according to new data from the College of Healthcare Information Management Executives.

The association’s latest survey of domestic members revealed that women serving in senior health IT roles on average made $257,340 in 2018, while men averaged $228,217.

That contrasts with other industry trends. Female hospital CEOs tend to earn 22% less than male counterparts, according to a 2017 CEO compensation study. And, according to a 2018 compensation survey from the Healthcare Information and Management Systems Society, female health IT professionals made an average salary of $100,447, compared with $123,244 for men.

HIMSS, which polled 855 health IT professionals, estimated an average salary of $109,610 in the field. Its survey included managers and nonmanagement staff, in addition to executives.

Roughly 11% of CHIME’s domestic members, or 266 members, responded to the survey. Women accounted for about 27% of survey respondents, which CHIME said is comparable to the gender breakdown of its domestic membership.

CHIME also found that chief information officers at integrated delivery networks and children’s hospitals tend to have higher salaries than their peers.

Overall, the survey revealed an uptick in salaries since the group’s last salary survey in 2012, with executives now making an average base salary of $235,806, up from $208,417.

Trends in salaries for different types of organizations may be linked to size, as executive pay tended to increase with the number of beds in a facility. Those at facilities with 25 or fewer beds reported an average salary of $136,183, while those at facilities with more than 400 beds trended closer to $250,000 or $300,000.

Average salary also varied by education, as executives with medical degrees earned 60% more than those with master’s degrees, as well as by location, with those living in the Pacific region earning 11% more than the national average. ●