HMO Execs Among Highest Paid, Study Says

Chief executives of the nation’s largest health maintenance organizations are among the most highly paid CEOs in the country, when their compensation is judged relative to company size and stock performance, a new survey says. The Crystal Report on Executive Compensation established a series of benchmarks for CEO pay after looking at the pay packages of 1,568 CEOs in 31 industries. The study found that the pay of some HMO executives was two to three times the benchmark figures established by a statistical analysis of CEO pay. Other industries that paid more than their counterparts in most industries were drug makers and biotech companies, computer hardware and software makers and brokerages. The survey found that seven industries underpay their CEOs: wholesaling, general retailing, food retailing, restaurants, surface transportation, air transportation and power utilities.