Executive Compensation at Mercy Health (Wisconsin) 2022

Mercyhealth is a regional healthcare system with 7 hospitals and about 85 facilities in 50 communities in southern Wisconsin and northern Illinois. Headquartered in Janesville, Wisconsin, Mercyhealth consists of many non-profit, tax-exempt organizations (9) and also owns several organizations that are taxed as corporations including Mercycare Insurance Company, Rockford Health Insurance (which is domiciled in Bermuda), Mercycare HMO (which consolidated with Mercycare Insurance Company), and Janesville Medical Center, Inc (management of union employees).

The entire Mercyhealth system (the largest employer in the area) has more than 7,500 employees compensated through the various non-profits and corporations. This post will list the most highly compensated employees as reported by Mercy Health System Corporation (MHSC) on the Form 990 (2021 for the year ending June 30, 2022) submitted to the IRS.  To find the most highly compensated employees at a specific hospital or related organization, see the corresponding Form 990.

MHSC is governed  by 8 voting members (directors) of the governing body (board of directors, 6 of whom are independent; 7 of the 8 directors (88%) are male while 1 (12%) is female.

In 2022, MHSC reported total revenue of $658 million, most of which was patient service revenue. Expenses totaled $611 million (including $27 million in depreciation) with compensation ($340 million not including $36 million spent on purchased labor and contractors) and medical supplies ($117 million) the two largest expenses. Net assets increased from $400 million at the beginning of the year to $440 million at year-end.

3,829 employees were compensated $340 million, which equates to an average compensation of $89,000.  540 employees received more than $100,000 in compensation. The 18 most highly compensated employees are:

• $12,527,853:  Javon R Bea, Director/President
• $  1,484,159:  David Nelsen, Physician
• $  1,350,869:  Shahid Shekhani, Physician
• $  1,201,546:  Michael McGauley, Physician
• $  1,198,494:  Merle Rust, Physician
• $  1,134,087:  Imdad Ahmed, Physician
•  $   813,707:   Todd Anderson, VP/CFO
• $   485,743:  Kimberly Scaccia, VP, Revenue Cycle
• $   482,844:  E Patrick Cranley, VP
• $   473,120:  Mark L Goelzer, Director/Physician
• $   468,437:  Joanna Bea Benning, VP
• $   452,878:  Ruth M Yarbrough, VP
• $   427,298:  Debra A Potempa, VP (term. 9/21)
• $   418,634:  Jennifer A Hallett, VP
• $   354,980:  Joel Prah, VP
• $   336,168:  Shannon Dunphy-Alexander, Sr Exec Dir
• $   335,070:  James Davis, VP
• $   285,960:  Ladd Udy, VP

As illustrated above, the 18 most highly compensated employees received more than $24 million in compensation with more than half going to Javon R Bea, the Director and President. Mr. Bea has received an estimated $63 million in compensation from 2017-2022 while the 10 most highly compensated employees received $41 million from 2021-2022 (note:  highly compensated employees in 2021 but not in 2022 are not included in the list below):

Javon Bea:  Total Estimated Compensation 2017-2022: $63 million

• 2022:  $12,527,853
• 2021:  $12,132,146
• 2020:  $11,000,000 (estimated)
• 2019:  $10,000,000 (estimated)
• 2018:  $ 9,363,980
• 2017:  $ 8,867,895

Shahid Shekhani:  Total Compensation 2021-2022:  $3.5 million

• 2022:  $1,350,869
• 2021:  $2,184,802

David D Nelson:  Total Compensation 2021-2022:  $3 million

• 2022:  $1,484,159
• 2021:  $1,316,423

Michael McGauley:  Total Compensation 2022:  $1 million

• 2022:  $1,201,546

Merle Rust:  Total Compensation 2022:  $1 million

• 2022:  $1,198,494

Imdad Ahmed:  Total Compensation 2021-2022:  $2.5 million

• 2022:  $1,134,087
• 2021:  $ 1,253,518

Todd Anderson:  Total Compensation 2021-2022:  $1.5 million

• 2022:  $813,707
• 2021:  $561,016

Kimberly Scaccia:  Total Compensation 2021-2022:  $1 million

• 2022:  $485,743
• 2021:   $321,053

E Patrick Cranley:  Total Compensation 2021-2022:  $1 million

• 2022:  $482,844
• 2021:  $412,824

Mark L  Goelzer:  Total Compensation 2021-2022:  $1 million

• 2022:  $473,120
• 2021:  $531,113

12 of the 18 (67%) are male while 6 of the 18 (33%) are female; 9 of the 10 most highly compensated employees are male while 1 is female (note: the Form 990 does not disclose gender identity; the determination was made based on the name and a google search).

56 independent contractors received more than $100,000 in compensation with the 5 most highly compensated reported to be:

• $4.9 million:  EPIC Systems Corp, of Verona, WI for software/system maintenance
• $3.9 million:  Comphealth, of Dallas, TX for physician services
• $2.8 million:  Credit Management, of Pittsburgh, PA for collection services
• $2.6 million:  Lab Corp of America, of Burlington, NC for lab services
• $2.0 million:  Baker Tilly, of Milwaukee, WI for accounting

To read the IRS Form 990 (2021 for the year ending June 30, 2022), click here.