Executive Compensation at Dignity Health (2023)

Dignity Health is part of the CommonSpirit Health System (In 2019, Dignity Health merged with Catholic Health Initiatives (CHI) to become one of the largest tax-exempt, non-profit healthcare systems in the United States). With more than 60,000 employees staffing 400 care centers and 41 hospitals in 22 states, Dignity Health is based in San Francisco, CA (whereas CommonSpirit Health is based in Chicago, IL). Although Dignity Health has numerous related/affiliated non-profits, taxable corporations and trusts, this post is limited to addressing the executive compensation of Dignity Health, an affiliate of CommonSpirit Health.

In 2023, Dignity Health reported total revenue of $9.9 billion (compared to $9.5 billion in 2022 and $10.1 billion in 2021) with most revenue coming from patient income net of charity ($5.6 billion), medicare/medicaid ($3 billion), management services ($616 million) – which appears to be from affiliated/related organizations within the Dignity Health network, and investment income and gain on the sale of assets ($287 million).

Expenses totaled $10 billion (including $346 million in depreciation) with the largest expenses reported to be:

• $5.1 billion:  Compensation
• $1.7 billion:  Fees to Outside Vendors (includes nearly $300 million for outside staffing)
• $1.2 billion:  Medical Supplies
• $527 million:  Office-Related Expenses
• $484 million:  Med Cal/Med Prov Fees
• $361 million:  Grants and other assistance ($256 million to Dignity Health Medical Foundation)

51,616 employees received $5.1 billion in compensation, which equates to an average compensation of $100,000 (Dignity Health compensated $400 million on outside staffing services provided by 3 independent contractors).

15,456 employees received more than $100,000 in compensation with the 34 most highly compensated reported to be:

• $27,954,468:  Lloyd Dean, CEO
• $ 6,407,226:  Marvin O’Quinn, President and COO
• $ 4,187,662:  Daniel J Morissette, Treasurer, SEVP CFO
• $ 4,186,979:  Elizabeth Shih, SEVP, CAO
• $ 4,145,186:  Charles P Francis, SEVP, Chief Strategy Officer
• $ 3,606,621:  Robert Wiebe, EVP, Chief Medical Officer
• $ 3,511,054:  Suja Chandrasekaran, SEVP, Chief Information and Digital*
• $ 3,122,766:  Darryl Robinson, SEVP, Chief HR Officer
• $ 3,026,445:  John E Petersdorf, WVP, Operational Effectiveness
• $ 2,736,469:  John Amos, Former Hospital President YRMC
• $ 2,707,134:   Mitch Melfi, Secretary, Chief Legal Officer*
• $ 2,598,509:  Thomas McGinn, EVP, Physician Enterprise*
• $ 2,564,036:  Julie Sprengel, SVP, Operations & CEO, Nevada/Southern
• $ 2,417,755:  Tracy Sklar, System SVP Quality
• $ 2,407,068:  Thomas Kopfensteiner, Chief Mission Officer*
• $ 2,380,601:  Mark Klein, System SVP Corp Communications Corp
• $ 2,334,585:  Linda Hunt, SVP, Operations and CEO, Arizona Division
• $ 2,267,846:  Kathleen Sanford, Chief Nursing Officer*
• $ 2,085,359:  Fred Najjar, EVP, Chief Philanthropy Officer
• $ 2,065,478:  Shelly Schlenker, EVP, Chief Advocacy Officer
• $ 1,875,782:  Todd A Strumwasser, SVP, Operations & CEO Northern California
• $ 1,824,192:   Tammara Wilcox, System SVP Payer Strategy & Relations
• $ 1,778,064:  Daniel Delay, System SVP Support Services Resource MGM*
• $ 1,763,250:  Anthony Scott Carswell, System SVP Market Strategy and Development
• $ 1,728,687:  Lisa Gamshad Zuckerman, System SVP Treasury & Strategic Inv
• $ 1,686,975:  Dennis Hemphill, System SVP Safety Security Emergency
• $ 1,579,559:  Laurie Harting, Former SVP, Operations & CEO Greater Sacrame
• $ 1,550,353:  Jon Vanboening, SVP, Operations & CEO, Central California
• $ 1,454,414:  Wright Lassiter, III, CEO (eff 8/1/22)
• $ 1,429,798:  Michelle Cooper, EVP, Chief Compliance Officer*
• $ 1,388,202:  Benjie M Loanzon, System SVP Finance and Corp Con.
• $ 1,274,094:  Alyssa C Rieder, VP, Chief Investment Officer
• $ 1,273,914:  James Spivey, President, DHMG AZ (thru 11/18/22)
• $ 1,225,425:  Phil Foster, System SVP Enterprise Risk Management*

A “*” indicates compensation was paid by a related organization.

The  employees listed above received $110 million in 2023. 22 of the 34 (65%) are male while 12 of the 34 (35%) are female. 8 of the 10 most highly compensated employees are male including the CEO, Lloyd Dean who received $28 million in compensation in 2023.

The most highly compensated employee was Lloyd Dean who received $28 million in 2023 and $106 million from  2019-2023:

Lloyd Dean:  Total Compensation 2019-2023:  $106 million

• 2023: $27,954,468
• 2022: $35,462,873
• 2021:  $14,647,375
• 2020: $16,745,227
• 2019:  $11,433,166

In addition, 12 former board members received $50,508-$100,125 in 2023:

• Tessie Guillermo.
• Christopher Lowney
• Kent Bradley
• Mark Demichele.
• Peter Hanelt.
• Angela Archon
• Phoebe Yang
• Antionette Hardy-Waller.
• Patrick Steele
• Geraldine Bednash.
• James Hamill.
• Gary Yates.

Dignity Health paid for first class or charter travel and made gross up payments or provided tax indemnification in addition to club dues for business purposes and security services including vehicle and driver. For information on these expenses, severance payments, post employment separation payments, and the non qualified supplemental benefit plan and the deferred compensation plan, see the Form 990, Schedule J, Part III, Supplemental Information.

1,151 independent contractors received more than $100,000 in compensation with the five (5) most highly compensated reported to be:

• $414 million:  Optum360 LLC, of Eden Prairie, MN for revenue cycle services
• $271 million:  Medical Solutions, of Omaha, NE for staffing services
• $ 83 million:  Guidant Global, of Southfield, MI for staffing services
• $ 82 million:  Cerner Corp, of Kansas City, MO for technology services
• $ 44 million:  Emergency Medical Services, of Rancho Cordova, CA for staffing services

As listed above, nearly $400 million was spent on outside staffing services from three (3) contractors.

At the beginning of the year, Dignity Health had $8.4 billion in net assets. After adjusting for excess expenses over revenue (-$212 million), an unrealized gain on investments ($65 million), and a $438 million positive adjustment to net assets  – primarily for pensions that appear to be overfunded, Dignity Health’s net assets were $8.7 billion at year-end.

To read the IRS Form 990 2022 for the year ending June 30, 2023 click here.