Healthcare Leadership Trends for 2025
Compensation is always an essential ingredient for leadership. It can be difficult to determine the right levels, but there are some helpful benchmarks. Median annual increases in 2024 were 5.2% for base salary of health system executives and 8.3% for total cash compensation. 1 The same categories for subsidiary hospital executives were 3.5% and 7.4%, respectively. Incentive compensation is also critical throughout the leadership ranks. The popularity of various bonus measures and their weighting can be gleaned from ( Figure 6) . 2
2024
Overall Measure Categories Utilized at the System-Level
Prevelance
Weight
Financial
93%
32%
Quality
85%
22%
Patient Expirience and Acces
75%
20%
People
73%
18%
Patient Safty
61%
17%
Growth
41%
19%
Figure 6, Source: Sullivan Cotter
Advancement potential An important component in the leadership retention matrix is perception of advancement potential. Given the significant survey participation by senior executives, it is not surprising that 34% of respondents pointed to being at the top of their career ladder where they work. Just 22% said they are currently on an advancement track, a decrease from 25% last year. This figure has never exceeded about one-quarter of the respondent base in recent years. More promising is the 43% of Millennial respondents indicating their organizations have them on course for advancement. Twenty percent are not seeking advancement. An equal percentage believe they must actually leave their employer to move ahead, in line with the prior year. This group no doubt includes many strong performers who do not perceive a forward path where they are. Mid-term and younger respondents noticeably sounded the alarm on needing to leave: 27% of those with tenure between 6 and 10 years and 27% of Gen X leaders.
1 Sullivan Cotter, “Health Care Executive Compensation Insights,” 2024. 2 Ibid.
© B.E. Smith 2025
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