An Open Heart Mitzvah?
When it comes to fat paychecks for its cardiologists, the North Broward Hospital District has a big heart and a fat wallet.
Consider:
AKA Broward Health, the tax-funded District currently employs seven cardiologists.
Combined, their paychecks totaled more than $7.5 million last year.
For an average of $1.2 million per doc.
Oh yes.
According to the American Medical Association, the median salary for a cardiologist is less than $400,000 a year. (www.cejkasearch.com)
Interestingly, the AMA salary survey lists a higher median salary for cardiologists employed in the South: $424,379*.
But the average Broward Health cardiologist takes home a paycheck roughly three times fatter than their Southern counterpart.
The following is a list of cardiologists employed by the District and their total compensation** from the public hospital system for FY 2009:
Ashok Sharma $2,160,641
John Rozanski $1,508,695
Violeta Atanasoski $1,383,730
Michael Chisner $1,327,443
Marc Aueron $985,794
Richard Howard $201,346
Naturally, big paydays like these made me curious about the District Heart Surgeon's earnings.
Like in 2006, the District paid Thoracic Surgeon Carl Gill $1,318,942 for his services..
But he's gone now, having been replaced by Dr. Kenneth Herskowitz. Who – according to the District's annual budget serves as a Medical Director at Broward General's Heart Center of Excellence gratis..
Anyhow...
Three weeks ago I submitted a public records request seeking the amount -- if any – the district pays Herskowitz for his services as a heart surgeon involved in any of the 290 open heart operations at Browward General in FY 2009.
As of today, I'm still waiting to see if Herskowitz was getting paid, or performing a humongous mitzvah.
Naturally, as an old newspaperman, fuels my curiosity like gasoline tossed on a fire.
Especially given the potential impact of Stark Laws governing the arrangement between hospitals and their physician employees – and issue raised by several district attorney's before they were forced to resign, or were fired..
Consider:
AKA Broward Health, the tax-funded District currently employs seven cardiologists.
Combined, their paychecks totaled more than $7.5 million last year.
For an average of $1.2 million per doc.
Oh yes.
According to the American Medical Association, the median salary for a cardiologist is less than $400,000 a year. (www.cejkasearch.com)
Interestingly, the AMA salary survey lists a higher median salary for cardiologists employed in the South: $424,379*.
But the average Broward Health cardiologist takes home a paycheck roughly three times fatter than their Southern counterpart.
The following is a list of cardiologists employed by the District and their total compensation** from the public hospital system for FY 2009:
Ashok Sharma $2,160,641
John Rozanski $1,508,695
Violeta Atanasoski $1,383,730
Michael Chisner $1,327,443
Marc Aueron $985,794
Richard Howard $201,346
Naturally, big paydays like these made me curious about the District Heart Surgeon's earnings.
Like in 2006, the District paid Thoracic Surgeon Carl Gill $1,318,942 for his services..
But he's gone now, having been replaced by Dr. Kenneth Herskowitz. Who – according to the District's annual budget serves as a Medical Director at Broward General's Heart Center of Excellence gratis..
Anyhow...
Three weeks ago I submitted a public records request seeking the amount -- if any – the district pays Herskowitz for his services as a heart surgeon involved in any of the 290 open heart operations at Browward General in FY 2009.
As of today, I'm still waiting to see if Herskowitz was getting paid, or performing a humongous mitzvah.
Naturally, as an old newspaperman, fuels my curiosity like gasoline tossed on a fire.
Especially given the potential impact of Stark Laws governing the arrangement between hospitals and their physician employees – and issue raised by several district attorney's before they were forced to resign, or were fired..
NOTE:
*In a national surveyed published by Modern Physician magazine this year, the annual compensation for invasive cardiologists ranged from $389,000 to $561,875 as reported by 11 physician recruiting firms.
**Source: North Broward Hospital District 2010 Budget as approved by District Commissioners
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