By Chad Ingram

A September report from Ontario’s auditor general found large discrepancies in the pay of the CEOs of the province’s Community Care Access Centres (CCACs) as well as inconsistencies in the models through which they are paid.

CACCs are fully funded by the ministry of health and long-term care through the ministry’s Local Health Integration Networks of which there are 14 in the province.
Depending on the complexity of the organization (there is a ratings system with levels one through five) CCAC CEO’s salaries range from $145000 to $351000 a year.

Some receive signing bonuses and performance payments on top of their base salaries.

“One CEO received a signing incentive payment of $45000 representing 25 per cent of base salary that year” the report reads. “This is significantly higher than the signing incentive payment of eight per cent of base pay that was paid to the CEO of another CCAC in 2010. The board of directors in the first case did not document the criteria used to arrive at the 25 per cent incentive but explained to us that the CEO received the signing incentive payment so that his full salary in that year would be consistent with that of other CCAC CEOs.”

In another case a board of directors had approved a performance bonus of more than $38000 for its CEO even though that CEO did not achieve the highest performances rating possible.
There were also cases where CEOs declined pay increases asking instead that raises be given to other staff members.

“One CEO declined a board-approved salary increase of $50000 in July 2013 and performance payouts of about seven per cent for 2012/13 and 10 per cent for 2013/14 saying the money should instead be available to other staff in the CCAC” the report reads. “Another CEO declined a performance payment of more than $15000 in the 2013/14 citing the need for prudence in the fiscal environment at the time.”

The auditor general’s recommendation was that CCACs should follow a common CEO compensation framework and be required to report any exceptions to their respective LHINs. In response the province said it will work the LHINs to ensure “that there is a common and accepted CEO compensation framework in place for all 14 CCACs.”

The report found that in 2013 the average CEO salary was $249000 representing a 27 per cent increase from 2009.

According to the report for 2013/14 an average of 13 per cent of CCAC funding was spent on indirect expenses such as executive and administrative staff salaries and other administrative expenses.
An average of 82 per cent of funding went to direct patient services comprised mostly of the salaries of nurses and personal support workers.