Health care CEOs highest paid, Wall Street Journal survey finds

The Wall Street Journal: The median CEO pay in the health care industry "was $10 million" in the past fiscal year, which is "the highest median pay of any industry," including consumer goods, telecom and oil and gas, according to the new Wall Street Journal CEO Compensation Study. "The study looked at total direct compensation, which includes salary, bonuses and the value of long-term incentives, including stock and stock options at the time of the grant. The health-care industry has been the focus of a lot of attention over rising costs. But Paul Dorf, managing director of Upper Saddle River, N.J.-based Compensation Resources Inc., a compensation consulting firm, said the resiliency of the sector as a whole led to high pay in health care. ... The study analyzed CEO pay from 456 U.S. companies with revenue of at least $4 billion in their most recent fiscal year and that filed their proxy statements by the end of September. Three health-care CEOs were among the top 20 — including those of Thermo Fisher Scientific, Boston Scientific and Johnson & Johnson" (Light, 11/16).