The Top Jobs in IT: Earning Top-notch Dollars

2008 Healthcare IT Salary Survey

Health systems, hospitals, imaging centers and physician’s offices continue to use more information systems to manage and connect a variety of departments and facilities, improve workflow and ensure quality patient care. Combine this with the implementation of newer solutions such as computerized physician order entry and electronic medical records, and it’s clear that more people and roles are required to oversee the systems.

In response to these changes, this year we’ve expanded our annual PACS Administrator Salary Survey into a Healthcare IT Salary Survey. Response was excellent. So over the next several pages, we’re taking a closer look at the Top Ten Job Titles by number of respondents to gain insight into salaries as well as education levels, FTEs they supervise and the departments to which they report.

If we look at all of the titles collectively, the majority of healthcare IT workers are male, between 41 and 50 years old and hold a bachelor’s degree. Most received a bonus last year and most earned a 3 percent raise. Not surprisingly, chief information officers are at the high end of the healthcare IT earning scale, averaging a salary of $180,000 to $200,000, according to survey results. Systems administrators are at the lower end of the healthcare IT earning scale, averaging $40,000 to $50,000.

The majority of healthcare IT positions are still budgeted within the radiology department, but we’re seeing more folks reporting to IS/IT and cardiology as well. Most respondents have been in their current position between 1 and 6 years. A CIO is most likely responsible for 21 to 50 FTEs, and handle 1 to 5 facilities. The majority have been in healthcare IT for 7 to 12 years and in their current position for 1 to 3 years.

Diving Deeper

For a look inside the data, at the top business and technology priorities of healthcare IT professionals, what IT systems they are buying and eyeing and what’s on the top of their to-do list in 2008, 2009 and 2010—read "Diving Deeper: The Data Behind the Salary Survey."

The fine print

Health Imaging & IT posted the online survey of 40 questions from March 7 to March 28 on HealthImaging.com and solicited participation from the readers of Health Imaging & IT and subscribers of Health Imaging News, our daily e-newsletter. In all, 633 respondents completed the survey and emailed it to us for tabulation. Duplicate and incomplete surveys were eliminated from the results.