Compensation has been a hot topic this year among our clients. We thought it might be time to provide all of you with some updates, tips and best practices:

Base Salary

Many programs conduct an annual or bi-annual market review of salaries for staff working in physician relations or occupational health. Physician recruiters often have special salary packages with incentives based on filling positions. The Human Resource staff will conduct internal review looking at equity in terms of reporting/management levels and internal communication/data sharing. 

Additionally, many organizations will do a regional or national external review. These usually encompass two levels: 

1) Best practices or peer hospital pay scales for these positions; and 

2) Comparable positions in other service/sales industries. These may include banking, hotel, hospice, DME or home health.

Physician Relations and Occupational Health Sales Representatives Pay Scale – The national range is currently $48,000 to $88,000, with market and hospital size affecting the level of pay. If the staff member brings 7+ years of experience or clinical credentialing, the base pay scale may reflect that as an additional add-on. 

Additional Pay

Many programs now offer “incentive” or variable pay. This doesn’t put the base salary at risk, but allows the sales staff member to earn additional pay for achieving established sales activities or result targets. There are many forms of variable pay: commission, performance, bonus, and gain sharing, to name a few. 

Many healthcare organizations are using the performance pay system because it’s easily adopted into current human resource systems and allows the measures and payouts to reflect desired sales outcomes. Performance pay offers a range of 0% to 25% of base pay annually, with a payout on a quarterly basis. Our clients report that performance payout has been averaging 12.5% to 17% annually. 

Some clients will also offer an annual stretch bonus—focusing on key annual stretch goals such as 110% of budget, new referrals or revenue targets, retention of business or satisfaction. A stretch bonus is paid either by percentage of salary (0% to 5%, with percentage assigned to each goal) or a flat dollar amount assigned to each goal.

Additional Perquisites

Many healthcare organizations have begun to provide a monthly car allowance and gas card to their sales staffs. This has been found to be more efficient than weekly mileage charts and serves to enhance recruitment and retention efforts for sales-focused staff. Other perks offered are a laptop, cell phone with coverage, pager, clerical support, calendar system/PDA, and annual training or conference opportunities.

A Word to the Wise

Good or bad, money can cause problems. Work to build a grounded compensation plan for your sales staff that ensures:

* Recruiting the right talent

* Retaining that talent

* Focusing your staff on desired results. Obviously, compensation is very personal and market specific; if you have a question about a particular situation, please contact Corporate Health Group.

Carolyn Merriman is president of Corporate Health Group, a national healthcare consulting firm and is based in Rhode Island. For additional information, please call 1-888-334-2500 or contact us via the Web.

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