Look up 100 top-paid employees at nonprofit health systems in the Philadelphia region in 2024
Employee pay and benefits typically account for more than half of health system expenses and have contributed to rising healthcare costs for employers and governments.
Pay and benefits typically account for more than half the total costs in hospital systems at a time when healthcare are rising sharply in the Philadelphia region and nationally.
Local nonprofit health systems reported compensation ranging from $1.2 million to $3.7 million in 2024 for the 100 highest-paid employees listed in their most recent federal nonprofit tax returns. The ranking excludes system CEOs.
Meanwhile, employers are expecting insurance increases approaching 10% for the coming year, according to several national surveys by benefits consultants. Experts cite increased use of healthcare services, widespread use of expensive specialty drugs, and rising hospital prices as key factors leading to overall rising benefit costs.
Clinicians accounted for 60 spots in The Inquirer’s top 100 ranking, which is based on compensation reported in dozens of 990 tax forms from Philadelphia-area hospitals, affiliated physician groups, and other related entities.
Highly specialized neurosurgeons accounted for the highest number of top-paid clinicians, followed by cardiac and cardiothoracic surgeons and orthopedic surgeons.
Chief financial officers and chief operating officers were well represented in the management ranks.
The region’s largest health system also claimed its highest-paid non-CEO, Jefferson Health president and physician Baligh R. Yehia. His $3.7 million in compensation also topped that of all but two CEOs, as disclosed in a previous Inquirer analysis.
Thomas Jefferson University, which is Jefferson Health’s parent entity, had 30 executives and physicians in The Inquirer’s top 100. The Jefferson group includes four executives who left during or before 2024, but not salaries reported through the Lehigh Valley Health Network, which Jefferson acquired in August of that year.
Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia had the second-largest number of employees in the top 100, with 18, including surgeons and numerous top executives, such as CFO, general counsel, and head of human resources.
Virtua was third, with nine employees, mainly surgeons.
Across the region, 176 nonprofit health system employees received at least $1 million in total compensation in 2024. That amounts to one in five employees in The Inquirer’s database of more than 800 people.
IRS rules require nonprofits to report compensation for officers, highest-paid employees, and employees with a certain level of responsibility.
The Inquirer created a database detailing the compensation reported on 900 tax forms for more than 800 employees of 20 nonprofit health systems and related entities, as well as standalone hospitals, in Southeastern Pennsylvania, Southern New Jersey, and Northern Delaware to find the 100 employees with the highest reported pay in 2024. The top 100 excludes the CEOs of the parent organizations, which were previously reported, but does include CEOs of subsidiaries, such as hospitals.
IRS rules require nonprofits to report compensation for officers, directors, and key employees with influence over substantial segments of business. Some employees are included in the database because they serve as a director of a related organization, but their titles here reflect their primary positions.
The review included dozens of 990s from Thomas Jefferson University (parent of Jefferson Health), the University of Pennsylvania Health System, Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia, Temple University Health System, Main Line Health, Tower Health, Trinity Health Mid-Atlantic, Redeemer Health, Grand View Health, St. Christopher’s Hospital for Children, and Wills Eye Hospital in Pennsylvania; AtlantiCare, Capital Health, Cooper University Health Care, Deborah Heart & Lung, Inspira Health Network, Shore Medical, and Virtua Health in New Jersey; and ChristianaCare and Nemours in Delaware.
The main database did not include employees of Lehigh Valley Health Network, which Jefferson acquired in August 2024. It also excluded Penn’s Lancaster General Hospital and Princeton Medical Center.
The top 100 list further excluded university presidents and medical school deans at Temple University, Thomas Jefferson University, and the University of Pennsylvania.
