Salary dispute

Ladies and Gentlemen:

I wanted to comment on Jeannie Akridge's survey on 2004 Materials Managers, Directors and VP Salaries [July 2004 HPN].

Perhaps Healthcare is getting just exactly what it is paying for in Logistics and Materials Management.

Humbly,

William A. Myers, MS, CHE, FAHRMM, RD, LD

wmyers@mbmc.orq

Editor's Note: Indeed, low salaries may not be attracting the highest caliber executives to deliver all of the fiscal magic tricks that administration wants. It's the proverbial Catch-22: Hospitals won't pay materials management professionals enough for the right caliber people," because they don't pay enough they don't attract the right caliber people. Hence, they don't get the results they want so they can't cost-justify increasing the salaries for materials managers. However, it's important to note that this shouldn't cast a pall on the profession. Many skilled and talented materials managers equip and supply hospitals and non acute care facilities across the country. Some are pulling in hefty salaries, too, In fact, I met with a recruiter last year who was looking for a vice president of materials management to place in a prominent East Coast integrated de livery network, The salary amounted to the low-to-mid-six-figures. But that's more the exception than the rule, which is what these survey results reflect. Incidentally, not much has changed over the years that HPN has been conducting this survey. While top-tier materials managers are acknowledged and recognized via respectable salaries, but they're apparently not responding to the survey because they're either too busy and can't be bothered or they don't want to give a false impression that skews the data higher than reality.

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