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How do the salaries of hospital CEOs in the Penn Medicine system compare?

Kevin Mahoney, Penn Medicine’s CEO, earned roughly double the pay of the highest paid hospital leader in his system.

The Penn Medicine system includes six acute-care hospitals, including the flagship Hospital of the University of Pennsylvania in West Philadelphia.
The Penn Medicine system includes six acute-care hospitals, including the flagship Hospital of the University of Pennsylvania in West Philadelphia.Read moreAlejandro A. Alvarez / Staff Photographer

A $784,000 gap separates the salaries of the highest and lowest paid hospital chief executives in the Penn Medicine system, Internal Revenue Services records show.

Regina Cunningham, the CEO of the Hospital of the University of Pennsylvania, the system’s flagship hospital in University City, earned nearly $1.5 million in fiscal year 2022.

Two other Penn hospital CEOs earned more than $1 million: Chester County Hospital’s Michael Duncan and Presbyterian Medical Center’s Michele Volpe (subsequently promoted to chief operating officer of the entire system).

Compensation packages that exceed the $1 million mark are typical for CEOs of Philadelphia-area nonprofit health systems.

The Penn system’s lowest-earning hospital CEOs were Lancaster General Hospital’s John Herman and Princeton Health’s James Demetriades. Both also run Penn’s only hospitals located outside of Philadelphia and its immediate suburbs.

Though all hospitals are owned by Penn Medicine, their operations vary in size. For example, the Hospital of the University of Pennsylvania is licensed for 1,200 beds. Presbyterian and Chester County are licensed for a third of that capacity.

Kevin Mahoney, Penn Medicine’s CEO, made $2.8 million — roughly double the highest paid hospital leader in his system.