• California Health Agencies Saw Significant Payroll Increase in 2014

    Posted on March 27, 2015 by in Breaking News

    Breaking News, CJB InsuranceSource: CaliforniaHealthline

    Following three years of flat payroll costs for the state, California state workers’ total annual incomes increased $1.1 billion in 2014, with some of the largest increases occurring among health-related agencies, according to new state payroll data, the Sacramento Bee reports (Ortiz, Sacramento Bee, 1/23).

    The Sacramento Bee’s State Worker Salary Database recently was updated with 2014 data from State Controller’s Office payroll records (Ortiz, “The State Worker,” Sacramento Bee, 1/23).

    Details of Pay Increases

    In total, state workers were paid $16.43 billion in 2014 — up by 7% from 2013. Further, the number of the state workers increased by about 2%, from 242,000 in 2013 to about 245,000 in 2014.

    According to the data, the largest payroll increases occurred in the:

    -State Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation, which had a $279 million payroll increase from 2013 to 2014;
    -California Correctional Health Care Services, which had a $91 million payroll increase; and
    -Department of State Hospitals, which had an $82 million payroll increase.

    H.D. Palmer, a spokesperson for the state Department of Finance, said some of the increases “are due to natural growth in program areas,” and might indicate that empty positions resulting from a record number of retirements are being filled (Sacramento Bee, 1/23).
    Highest-Paid Health Workers

    The data show that the highest-paid employees in each of the state’s health-related departments and agencies in 2014 were:

    -Jackson Wong, chief physician and surgeon at the California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitations, with an annual income of about $569,000;
    -Robert Moreno, a staff psychiatrist at the Department of State Hospitals, with an annual income of about $457,000;
    -Peter Lee, executive director of Covered California, with an annual income of about $313,000;
    -Ron Chapman, director of the California Department of Public Health, with an annual income of about $231,000;
    -Howard Backer, director of the Emergency Medical Services Authority, with an annual income of about $193,000;
    -Diana Dooley, secretary of the California Health And Human Services Agency, with an annual income of $182,000;
    -Michelle Rouillard, director of the state Department of Managed Health Care, with an annual income of about $153,000;
    -Janette Casillas, executive director of the state Department of Health Care Services’ Managed Risk Medical Insurance Board, with an annual income of about $129,000; and
    -Ronald Washington, executive director of the California Health Facilities Financing Authority, with an annual income of about $120,000 (Payroll database, 1/22).

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