PORT ANGELES — Olympic Medical Center commissioners have approved a
10 percent pay raise for Chief Executive Officer Eric Lewis.
Lewis’ salary will be $176,000 when the raise takes effect Sunday.
The raise was recommended by the OMC human resources committee and approved by a 6-0 vote at Wednesday’s meeting in Linkletter Hall at the hospital.
Commissioner Jim Leskinovitch was not present, being on vacation, but he spoke in favor of the raise when it was discussed two weeks ago.
Lewis did not attend the meeting because he was on a long-planned family vacation.
The $16,000 raise is Lewis’ first since he was promoted from chief financial officer to interim CEO in December 2006.
“It should be pointed out that Mr. Lewis has not received 1 cent of increase since he took this job,” said Commissioner Jim Cammack after Sam Woods of Sequim voiced concerns over CEO compensation during the public comment period.
Lewis, Cammack said, “brought together three hospital districts and engrossed this board in a search for an affiliate, and that affiliate is going to be Swedish-Providence hospital to bring more services to this community, and he’s done it pretty much single-handedly while also being the administrator of this hospital.”
OMC, Jefferson Healthcare and Forks Community Hospital signed affiliation agreements with Seattle-based Swedish Medical Center last fall and winter. Swedish joined forces with Providence Health & Services in October.
“I think he [Lewis] has done a tremendous job,” Cammack added.
Lewis, who became the permanent CEO in January 2007, has the same retirement and health care benefits as other hospital managers.
With the raise, Lewis will earn $49,000 less than Jefferson Healthcare CEO Mike Glenn, whose $225,000 salary is the highest of all public employees on the North Olympic Peninsula.
The CEO of nearby Whidbey General Hospital earns $230,000 per year.
Both of those organizations are significantly smaller than OMC.
“I fully agree with you that maybe some of these other folks with an average census of five or six people get paid too much,” Cammack told Woods.
“I think Mr. Lewis is not even getting paid enough.”
OMC has 1,100 employees working at its 80-bed hospital and various clinics in Port Angeles and Sequim. It is the largest employer in Clallam County.
Jefferson Healthcare, Forks Community Hospital and Whidbey General are critical-access hospitals, meaning they have 25 beds or fewer.
Forks Community Hospital co-administrators Camille Scott and John Sherrett earn per-diem wages depending on their hours, Sherrett has said.
“Olympic Medical Center, in general, has a philosophy that we pay all of our employees a market-based wage and benefit package for a total compensation that is market-based,” Commissioner John Nutter said.
“The data clearly shows us that the market for Eric, for someone performing at his level for our size of organization, is probably at least $300,000.
“I appreciate the fact that he worked without any raise for going on six years now.”
Since Lewis became CEO, union-represented staffers have received total raises of more than 20 percent through longevity steps and annual pay increases, OMC officials have said.
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Reporter Rob Ollikainen can be reached at 360-452-2345, ext. 5072, or at rob.ollikainen@peninsuladailynews.com.
