Salaries for most of Quinte Health Care’s senior executives are less than the median pay for their counterparts at similar hospitals, a new board report shows, and raises are planned.

The board does, however, plan to reduce compensation for the chief of staff and cancel some other forms of compensation, including vehicle allowances.

Acting board chairman Stuart Wright said a lengthy study by board members revealed the corporation’s highest wages are actually low enough to put the corporation at risk of being unable to recruit and retain staff.

The exception was that of the chief of staff (COS), which was higher than the median pay at other hospitals in the study and which will be reduced.

Wright said the review was required under new provincial legislation implemented in 2016. It requires many public sector agencies to create executive compensation plans.

“I was astonished at how low our compensation was by comparison, with, obviously, the exception of the chief of staff,” Wright said.

Vice-president salaries at QHC have been frozen for 10 years; those of the chief executive officer and chief of staff have been frozen for eight.

New compensation plans must be approved by the government before the pay freezes are lifted.

“The government is trying to control costs in the public sector and I have to applaud them for that,” said Wright.

Board members had to identify hospital corporations with similar budgets, bed capacities and demands.

“It was a very complex circumstance,” Wright said.

“Nobody in our size operates four distinct hospital units.”

The local corporation has hospitals in Belleville, Trenton, Bancroft and Picton.

The Ministry of Health and Long-Term Care approved QHC’s choice of comparator hospitals, which included Peterborough Regional Health Centre, Kingston’s Providence Care Hospital, Chatham Kent Health Alliance and Michael Garron Hospital, formerly Toronto East General.

“The maximum salary you can pay is no greater than the median of those 10 comparator hospitals,” Wright explained.

President and chief executive officer Mary Clare Egberts received compensation as of December 2016 of $325,000. The median salary for her colleagues at 10 other similar hospitals was $368,804.

Chief of staff and medical microbiologist Dr. Dick Zoutman, an independent contractor, was compensated $280,000. He works 3.5 days per week. The report does not adjust that figure for a five-day week.

The median for other chiefs of staff, adjusted for a five-day week, was $327,683 — or $229,378 for a 3.5-day week.

Wright said QHC had offered higher pay in order to recruit the right person. He called Zoutman “an extraordinary physician” who is respected highly in his profession and who has “proven to be a wonderful choice.”

Zoutman is leaving QHC for a job in Toronto, and his replacement will be paid at a rate in line with those studied, said Wright.

The salaries of QHC’s three vice-presidents and two senior directors were also found to be tens of thousands of dollars less than their respective medians.

The board and ministry have approved increasing the pay envelope – the pot of money from which the senior leadership team is paid – by five per cent. Wright said the amount of individual raises has not been determined. The seven executives last year were paid a total of $1.46 million.

“Progression toward the maximum rate of compensation for each executive and any future increases to the executive pay envelope will be approved by the board,” according to the report.

The legislation requires any perquisites on the books to be given either to all executives or none.

Wright said the board decided to erase the $1,500-per-year vehicle allowances of Egberts and Zoutman.

Vice-presidents will have to pay their own dues for membership in professional organizations, etc.

“You can imagine these are not fun discussions to have with people,” Wright said, adding the changes were “nothing personal.”

He said he expects other hospitals to also opt for the cheaper move.

Wright acknowledged some people will still take issue with hospital executives’ salaries.

He said past experience has shown pay freezes for public employees tend to result in people leaving those workforces for jobs in other jurisdictions.

“They’re not indentured servants. They can go where they want – and many of them did,” he said, citing examples of nurses, executives and military pilots.

“Our physicians in Ontario are paid at a level that some people think is inappropriate. I don’t,” Wright continued.

“I think anybody that needs the help of the physician doesn’t ask, ‘How much are you getting paid?’”

The report drew attention to the increased workload of QHC’s senior leadership.

“All QHC executives have taken on broader portfolios and/or increased responsibilities over the past five years,” it reads. It adds they’ve done so amid increases in patients and the severity of illness, more complexity, less funding and trying to improve the quality of care, patient experience and working conditions.

“Executives get paid more in comparison to the general public,” he said, switching to a comparison between the National Hockey League and lower-tier American Hockey League. “So do the Ottawa Senators compared to the Belleville Senators. They’re at a different level.”

Wright added, however, that QHC must be able to both recruit and retain professionals “in a very competitive environment.”

The report notes the people in six of seven QHC executive positions have changed since the salary freezes began.

“Given its historically lower executive compensation levels and location outside of large urban centres, QHC had difficulty attracting people into the positions with previous experience at the executive level of similar organizations,” it reads.

Board members now invite the public to view the full report online at tinyurl.com/qhcpay and comment upon it.

The deadline for public feedback is Wednesday, Feb. 21 at 3:30 p.m.

Feedback will be summarized and submitted to the health ministry before the government implements the new compensation plan.

lhendry@postmedia.com