Mathematica: Health Insurance Costs and Employee Compensation: Evidence from the National Compensation Survey
This paper examines the relationship between rising health insurance costs and employee compensation. I estimate the extent to which total compensation decreases with a rise in health insurance costs and decompose these changes in compensation into adjustments in wages, non-health fringe benefits, and employee contributions to health insurance premiums. The paper examines this relationship using the National Compensation Survey, a panel dataset on compensation and health insurance for a sample of establishments across the USA. The paper finds that total hourly compensation reduces by $0.52 for each dollar increase in health insurance costs. This reduction in total compensation is primarily in the form of higher employee premium contributions, and there is no evidence of a change in wages and non-health fringe benefits. These findings show that workers are absorbing at least part of the increase in health insurance costs through lower compensation and highlight the importance of examining total compensation, and not just wages, when examining the relationship between health insurance costs and employee compensation.

An Aging Nursing Workforce Confronts Rapid Healthcare Industry Change
Hospital patients typically spend far more time with several nurses over the course of their stay than with the physicians who are in charge of their care. Nurses are an indispensable part of the services delivered in every physician's office. But, today, nurses are being asked to take on new jobs. As the healthcare payers demand greater value for their healthcare dollars, delivery systems must learn how to care for their patients more safely, with higher quality and in a less costly manner. That's led health system leaders to ask the nation's 3.1 million nurses to play a greater role in coordinating care. Are they up to the task? The nation's nursing workforce is growing older, with the average age approaching 50. About a quarter of current nurses are slated to retire in the next decade. Given the aging of the population -- 10,000 baby boomers are retiring every day -- the government projects the nation will need to train and employ a million new and replacement nurses between now and the middle of the next decade.

Save the Date and Call for Proposals:
ASHHRA 53rd Annual Conference & Exposition
Partnering Across the Continuum of Care
The Changing Role of Healthcare Human Resources
September 16 - 19, 2017
Seattle, Washington
www.ashhra.org/call_for_proposals.shtml

Healthcare CEOs See Bump in Pay, while CFO Compensation Decreases
Average compensation for healthcare CEOs climbed 2 percent year over year, reaching $5.1 million in 2015, according to a BDO survey. Although CEOs saw their pay rise last year, healthcare CFO compensation fell 5 percent year over year to $1.7 million in 2015. "Executive compensation plans continue to be hotly debated in the public as industries like financial services and healthcare grapple with increased scrutiny from stakeholders, lawmakers and consumers around pay practices and performance with continued calls for even more transparency," said Randy Ramirez, managing director in the global employer services practice at BDO. "We expect performance metrics will continue to grow in importance, as will communication plans to help earn shareholder approval."