As staffing constraints continue to dominate the skilled nursing space, wages rose 2.67% for the top long-term care corporate executives in 2021.

Long-term care chief executive officers earned an average minimum salary of $296,786 and an average maximum salary of $467,373.

That’s according to the most recent Multi-Facility Corporate Compensation Report from the Hospital & Healthcare Compensation Service (HCS).

Long-term care in this context includes companies that own or operate multiple nursing homes, CCRCs and senior living communities.

Facilities reported an average salary increase of 2.81% for corporate positions in 2019.

The report incorporated responses from 92 multi-facility long-term care companies. That included 46 long-term care providers – with 38 not-for-profit companies and eight for-profit companies.

Long-term care facilities with under $50 million in revenue saw the biggest wage increase for their staff at 2.88%, while long-term care facilities with over $100 million in revenue were slightly below that increase at 2.72%.

Long-term care facilities with revenue between $50 million and $100 million saw the smallest increase at 2.49%.

Performance-based merit was considered to be the biggest factor when it came to salary bumps in 2021, followed by cost of living. Performance evaluations were also most frequently goal-based.

Top executive salaries for hospitals far exceeded the amounts paid to long-term care leadership, with the average minimum salaries for CEOs at hospitals coming in at $616,269, compared to just under $300K for long-term care CEOs. However, home health and hospice CEO average minimum salary came in at $240,789. The average minimum and maximum represent averages of established salary ranges as reported by participants.

Hospitals appear to be offering significantly higher bonuses than their long-term care counterparts with hospital CEOs, COOs, top financial executives, and top human resources and marketing executives all receiving higher bonus percentages at hospitals.

All participants offered 401(k)/403(b) plans, according to the report, with an average match of 3.22% of salary and an average maximum contribution of 3.72%.