2005 Salary Survey Results: Innovation, creativity increasingly important for advancement in access management
2005 Salary Survey Results
Innovation, creativity increasingly important for advancement in access management
Technology expertise remains key
Health care organizations used to mention "re-engineering" expertise as they sought individuals to fill upper-level management positions, but now the operative word is "innovation," says Dee Hartung, vice president in the executive search division of St. Louis-based Cejka Search.
"We're seeing organizations wanting [candidates with] flexibility and creative thinking as they ask, ‘How can we innovate to make our processes better?'" adds Hartung.
As hospitals try to combine functions and leverage expertise, they are also looking for individuals who have skills across a number of areas, she notes. "We continue to get a number of requests to fill [director-level positions] that combine patient access, registration, and medical records functions.
"Along with that, we're seeing increases in salaries," Hartung says. "Previously, as a single function, a patient-admitting position might pay between $60,000 and $80,000, depending on the size of the hospital or if it's a health system. Now we're seeing salaries of over $100,000 for those [multiple] functions."
Her firm recently placed a director of patient account information at a large Midwestern hospital that was part of a national system at a salary of about $120,000, she says.
Advanced degrees are more important than ever in securing those kinds of positions, Hartung suggests. "In every search we do, [employers] are looking for expertise and sophistication; people really believe that brings added value to the position."
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Her experience is that employers want those degrees to be obtained in the classroom, not over the Internet, and would prefer that if a person can't go back to school full time, he or she get the degree by attending school in the evening or on weekends.
That degree typically could be a master's in health care administration or some area of finance, or even an MBA, depending on the job emphasis, Hartung adds.
Hartung says she continues to find that in careers dominated by women — such as patient access — candidates are less likely to move for a job, but that the situation is changing.
"I'm working on a placement now for a director of risk management and compliance, a field where there are more women because the first degree is usually an RN, and the person goes on to get a master's," she says. "I'm delighted that we've identified several candidates who — along with their husbands — are willing to relocate."
That position, Hartung says, is with a large medical group associated with a nationally known hospital, and will probably bring in a salary in the area of $150,000.
Patient satisfaction strategies important
As health systems incorporate patient satisfaction as a key component in their overall strategies, notes Pat Ahern, a principal with Quick Leonard Kieffer, a Chicago-based executive search firm, the role of the access professional is expanding accordingly.
Organizations are looking for an access director with the skills to design the department to enhance patient, physician, and interdepartmental satisfaction, as well as to improve regulatory compliance and reimbursement, Ahern says. "[That director] will be more involved in training programs and in identifying technology that will advance and facilitate this process."
Access directors also are increasingly involved with the public relations and marketing departments, as organizations begin to promote their services, she adds. "They will have a strategic view of the patient experience that other [department heads] do not. We have found that the higher-level [access professionals] do have those all-encompassing backgrounds."
Ahern says her experience has been that salaries for a director of patient access management at a Midwest hospital range from $85,000 to $95,000, while a director with responsibility for more than one hospital might be paid between $90,000 and $125,000.
Bonuses for those individuals can range from 20% to 25%, she points out, particularly if they are involved in facilitating the implementation of a technical system.
"If somebody is serving as project manager for [a major implementation]," Ahern adds, "once the system is up and running, there can be a substantial bonus — 50% to 60% of the base salary."
Technical expertise in combination with other skills remains a key factor in health care recruitment, agrees Chris Cornwall, president and CEO of Searchlight Recruiters Inc. in Laguna Hills, CA. "Salaries are going to continue to rise for people who understand and use technology in their jobs. There is a blurring of the lines between those who traditionally have managed the machines vs. those who collect the money."
Organizations are investing more and more in technology, he says, "but they're only as good as the people who know how to use that technology to better do the job."
Consulting opportunities available
There remains a "tremendous need and opportunity" for experienced access professionals to work as contract consultants for service firms, says David Borel, managing partner for health care at the Atlanta-based firm PeopleSource Solutions.
That need remains, he says, even though the number of smaller, spin-off companies created by the leadership of the "Big Four" service firms has been somewhat reduced by consolidation.
"I still think the opportunity is there and growing," says Borel. "We're looking at all levels, from ex-vice presidents to those with just a couple of years' experience, to work on a contractual basis for these firms."
Such a set-up, he notes, gives potential employees a chance to "try before they buy" and limits the firm's risk of hiring a lot of people full time.
"Don't be afraid to take contract or interim roles," Borel advises. Not only do the hourly, weekly, or even monthly rates paid to contractors amount to more than the salaries of the firms' full-time employees, he points out, "there is the opportunity if you do a good job to roll over to another project, or to [be hired] full time."
Unlike in the past, when independent contractors worked directly for hospitals and experienced the "feast or famine" syndrome, Borel says, there typically is no down time between engagements when working through a consulting firm.
"They're doing the marketing for you," he adds. "It's to their advantage to get you out there."
As for skill sets that will make a candidate particularly desirable in that arena, Borel says, "there's a big push now regarding clinical throughput and how that correlates through the revenue chain."
Survey breakdown
Access professionals responding to Hospital Access Management's 2005 Salary Survey reported gross incomes that were evenly distributed among four salary ranges: 64% percent of respondents — or 16% in each income category — said they made between $30,000 and $39,900, between $40,000 and $49,900, between $50,000 and $59,900, or between $70,000 and $79,900.
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Another 8% reported salaries of between $60,000 and $69,900, 7% put themselves in the $80,000 to $89,900 category, and 11% said they made between $100,000 and $129,999.
Five percent of respondents reported making less than $30,000 per year, and just 1% said they made more than $130,000 annually — the survey's highest salary category.
The great majority of survey respondents said their salaries went up in the past year, with most receiving a 1% to 3% increase (38%) or a 4% to 6% increase (32%). Another 10% got a raise of between 7% and 10%, while about 14% said there was no change in their compensation.
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A handful reported substantial increases, including 2% who said they got a raise of between 11% and 15%, and 3% who received a 16% to 20% increase.
The most commonly selected job title — of five choices — was access manager (35%), followed closely by director, access management (32%). However, the next highest number (17%) chose the "other" category and listed a variety of similar, access-related titles.
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Those included jobs registration and scheduling manager, admitting manager, director of patient registration, assistant director of patient access and patient access supervisor, admissions coordinator, and registration coordinator.
A couple of dual titles — senior director access services and chief privacy officer, for example — were listed, as were director of patient business services and regional director of access services.
Asked to give their highest academic degree, 13.48% of respondents chose "diploma (3-year)," 7.87% selected "BSN," and 4.49% chose "MSA." Almost 70%, however, said their degrees fit in the "other" category; included in that number were roughly 20% with master's degrees, and close to the same percentage with bachelor's degrees.
As usual, the vast majority (85%) of survey respondents said that "non-profit" best described the ownership of their employer, while the remaining responses were broken down between state, county, or city government (7.14%), for-profit (4.08%), and college or university (2.04%).
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Almost 98% worked for hospitals, as opposed to "academic" or "clinic" settings, and most of those hospitals were in the Midwest and the South.
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Respondents to the 2005 survey were more likely than last year's report to work for hospitals in a rural area (33.70%), compared to an urban area (25%), a medium-sized city (23.91%), or a suburban area (17.39%).
Most of those taking the 2005 survey, just more than 70%, were between 41 and 60 years of age, with the heaviest concentration between ages 51 and 55 (20%), ages 41 to 45 (18%), and ages 56 to 60 (18%). Eleven percent were between 36 and 40, and another 9% were between 31 and 35.
It is no surprise that the gender gap in access management remains wide, according to the latest survey, with women representing about 85% of respondents.
Health care organizations used to mention "re-engineering" expertise as they sought individuals to fill upper-level management positions, but now the operative word is "innovation," says Dee Hartung, vice president in the executive search division of St. Louis-based Cejka Search.Subscribe Now for Access
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