RHAs release full list of salaries

Hey there, time traveller!
This article was published 10/07/2010 (5888 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

The Brandon RHA has released its 2009 public sector compensation disclosure report for employees earning more than $50,000 per year — and there are a lot of them.

The recently published list contains several hundred names, ranging from carpenters to registered nurses to dietitians to general practice doctors to department heads and program managers.

The highest compensation paid out by the Brandon RHA in 2009 went to the authority’s full-time five psychiatrists, who each were paid a total of between $243,000 and $267,000 last year.

However, the list does not paint a full picture of how much cash most of the Wheat City’s doctors, surgeons and other specialists are raking in on an annual basis.

Because most of Brandon’s doctors are not technically employed by the RHA, they bill fee-for-service costs directly to the province.

That means they don’t show up on the RHA’s payroll, except in situation where they’ve billed the RHA for on-call service, says Janet Wilcox-McKay, the RHA’s comptroller and corporate liaison.

“We have lots of physicians and specialists who, although they are physically there and perform operations and provide service, we have basically very little to do with them,” she said.

“What they do is bill directly to Manitoba Health.”

A quick scan of Manitoba Health’s 2009 public sector compensation disclosure report shows many of Brandon’s general practitioners received anywhere between $300,000 to $500,000-plus in provincial compensation in 2009.

One of Brandon’s better-known surgeons raked in $1.13 million from the province last year.

However, it’s a different story in the Assiniboine RHA, where dozens of physicians are on its 2009 public sector compensation disclosure list — some raking in more than $370,000 last year.

That’s because the vast majority of those doctors are contracted by the region.

“We have salaried and contract physicians in our region,” says ARHA’s vice-president of corporate services, Kerry Takvam. “So (the totals) would be their salary, plus their on-call, all their committee fees … everything.”

Brandon RHA CEO Carmel Olson and Assiniboine RHA CEO Penny Gilson received compensation of $192,506 and $176,930, respectively, in 2009.

The Brandon RHA paid out a total of $63,115 to its board members, while the Assiniboine RHA paid out $63,092 to its board in aggregate.

The province-wide maximum annual stipend given to RHA board members is $4,000, while the board chair receives $9,500. They can also claim travel expenses.