Who Makes What in HME

You may never get rich, but at least you still have a job. That's a perennial theme in the health care industry, which has traditionally been known for nearly recession-proof employment and — outside of the physician ranks — modest pay.

The home medical equipment industry fits the pattern. For better or worse, its rewards are fairly predictable. HME workers and managers missed out on the New Economy boom of the '90s. But they also were spared the bust that followed.

This unspectacular but steady side of HME compensation shows up in our 2003 Salary Survey. Looking back to 2002, we've found no radical changes in how HME employees are paid or their level of benefits. Based on the 399 responses received in this year's survey, about the same percentage of workers — a bit more than 70 percent — got raises in both 2002 and 2003. The average raise was 6.4 percent. That puts HME on the generous side of national trends, at least in this lean year.

Several recent surveys of employers across a wide range of industries have put average raises at less than 4 percent. In a report released July 30, Mercer Human Resource Consulting polled 1,700 U.S. employers and found pay increases will average 3.6 percent in 2003. An earlier survey by the Conference Board, a private research group, said employers were planning to increase overall compensation by 3.5 percent this year.

As for the job-security side of the equation, unemployment figures for HME alone are not available. But the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics said joblessness in the broader Education and Health Services category stood at 4.4 percent in June. That was up from 3.9 percent a year earlier, but well below the total rate of 6.5 percent; or rates for workers in Durable Goods, 7.3 percent; Professional and Business Services, 8.5 percent; and Leisure and Hospitality, 8.6 percent.

The High, the Low, the In-Between

HME may have a few big players, but its pay scales still have a small-business feel. The gap between top management and the lowest-paid workers is narrow compared to that of large corporations in other industries. The average HME chief executive pay was $82,416; the highest pay reported in the President/CEO category was $250,000.