Fifteen ER doctors made more than $400,000 each in 2016

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This article was published 29/06/2017 (3054 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

Emergency room physicians continue to be the highest paid professionals employed within the Winnipeg Regional Health Authority, according the health region’s latest salary disclosure report.

ER doctors occupy the top 22 spots on the 165-page list of WRHA workers earning $50,000 or more last year. Dr. Ronald Scrapneck earned the most in 2016, making $680,793, and also topped the previous year’s list, earning $774,362 in 2015.

Milton Sussman, who left the WRHA Wednesday after nearly two years as its president and CEO, earned $362,565 in 2016.

Dr. Brock Wright, the WRHA’s senior vice-president and chief medical officer, was paid $342,569. On Wednesday, the provincial government announced that Wright will head up a new provincial organization to oversee health programs and reduce administrative duplication.

Fifteen ER physicians earned $400,000 or more in 2016. The WRHA has said in the past that driving up remuneration to some emergency room doctors is their willingness to take on overnight shifts — from midnight to 8 a.m. — that are often difficult to fill. Doctors working these shifts receive a 60 per cent premium above regular pay. Some ER doctors also boost their earnings by taking on additional shifts.

The report covers compensation paid to individuals employed by facilities directly operated by the WRHA. The hospitals included in the report are Health Sciences Centre, Victoria General Hospital, Grace Hospital and Deer Lodge Centre. Also included are those employed by the Pan Am Clinic, Manitoba eHealth, Community Area Services, Churchill Health, River Park Gardens personal care home and Middlechurch Home.

Not covered by the report are employees of St. Boniface General Hospital, Riverview Health Centre, Misericordia Health Centre, Seven Oaks General Hospital and Concordia Hospital. These institutions are separate legal entities that produce their own compensation reports.

larry.kusch@freepress.mb.ca