Pressure to rein in health care costs hasn't reached hospital executive suites, where spending on CEO pay is rising sharply.

Top executives at six of the nine largest Chicago-area nonprofit health systems pocketed substantial raises in 2017, recently released data shows. Their average pay hike was 37 percent, easily outpacing national trends.

Jim Skogsbergh of Advocate Aurora Health was the highest-paid local CEO for the fifth year in a row, taking home $11.7 million in 2017—up 42 percent from the year prior. He got more than twice as much as Dean Harrison of Northwestern Memorial HealthCare, the second-highest-paid CEO, who collected $5.2 million—up 22 percent from 2016.

In many cases, pay hikes were driven by bonuses based on performance targets that reflect the broader push for greater efficiency and better patient care. While financial performance still affects incentive compensation, quality measures—including patient satisfaction, safety and timeliness of care—are more heavily weighted by most organizations today than they were five years ago.

At Lurie Children's Hospital of Chicago, for example, executive compensation takes several factors into account, "including safe patient practices, positive patient outcomes, achievement of short- and long-term strategic, operational and financial goals," spokeswoman Julie Pesch says in an email.

Longtime Lurie CEO Patrick Magoon was the only one of the nine top execs to see a significant pay cut in 2017. His $2.2 million package declined 66 percent from $6.7 million in 2016, when he got a one-time payment of $4.9 million for 20 years of service as CEO. Still, his 2017 compensation was up 18 percent from 2015 and 27 percent from 2014.

Rising CEO pay reflects a nationwide "race for really, really good executive talent," as hospitals seek solutions to challenges ranging from lower reimbursement rates to consolidation, says Dan Mayfield, a managing director at Integrated Healthcare Strategies, a unit of Arthur J. Gallagher. The talent chase seems to be benefiting Chicago-area hospital bosses more than others. Base salaries for the nine local CEOs rose 24 percent, while average salaries for top hospital executives nationally increased just 3.5 percent, according to the National Health Care Leadership Compensation Survey by Integrated Healthcare Strategies.

The area's third-highest earner is Pam Davis, who retired as CEO of west suburban Edward-Elmhurst Health in 2017 after nearly three decades in the role. She earned a total of $3.4 million that year—a 75 percent increase over the year prior—primarily due to a $1.5 million payout from a supplemental executive retirement plan.