The study found that the average annual employees’ compensation in secondary public hospitals of Pudong New Area in 2012 was 149.20 thousand yuans (145.00 thousand yuans in general hospitals and 164.50 thousand yuans in specialty hospitals).

The study also showed that physicians in secondary public hospitals of Pudong New Area in 2012 had the highest average annual compensation, while nurses, medical technicians, other technicians, administrators, and supportive staff had 79%, 85%, 84%, 83%, and 67% of physicians’ annual compensation on average (Table 1).

Compared to other employees in Shanghai, the average annual employees’ compensation in secondary public hospital of Pudong New Area in 2012 was 2.65 times of the employees in Shanghai overall (56.30 thousand yuans), and was 1.33 times of health professionals (112.07 thousand yuans) (Table 2).

Compared to other professionals in Shanghai, the average annual compensation for physicians in secondary public hospital of Pudong New Area in 2012 was greater than that for health professionals overall (1.54 times), for education professionals (1.92 times), for IT professionals (1.23) and for financial professionals (0.89) (Table 2).

The study found that the average annual compensation for physicians in surveyed hospitals in 2012 was 3.07 times of that of employees in Shanghai overall, while that ratio was 4.15 in the United State. The physicians earned more than the health professional overall, education professionals and IT professionals, but less than financial professionals in Shanghai in 2012. However, the physicians earned the most among the health professional overall, education professionals, IT professionals and financial professionals in the United States in 2012 (Table 3).

Most of the surveyed hospitals believed that there were two fundamental principals in constructing new compensation systems for employees in public hospitals in Shanghai: to facilitate efficiency of medical care (75.00%) and to be fair to employees (75.00%). The surveyed hospitals suggested that about 70% of employees’ compensation should be based on performance, which should be further divided into three elements: workload (40.97%), service quality (15.00%) and working position (11.33%). The compensation for employees in public hospitals should be increased at the rate that were in concord with overall increase rate of employees’ compensation in Shanghai.

Medical industry is highly risky and technology intensive. So education and training for health professionals are costly, in terms of costs in time, energy and money. Therefore, medical professionals, especially physicians, deserve high compensation. Our study revealed that the average annual compensation for employees in secondary public hospitals of Pudong New Area was higher than that of employees in Shanghai overall (2.65 times) and was higher than that of overall health professionals, education professionals, and IT professionals (1.06 - 1.66 times). Especially, the physicians had the highest average annual compensation among different types of employees in secondary public hospitals of Pudong New Area reflected their social value in medical care to some degree. However, the average annual compensation for all types of employees in secondary public hospitals of Pudong New Area was lower than that of financial professionals. This may be because Shanghai is a financial center of China and economic development is so important in Shanghai. Shanghai needs to offer higher compensation in financial industry to attract skillful professionals.

^†Data from Shanghai Statistical Yearbook 2013; ^‡Data from Bureau of Labor Statistics, U.S. Department of Labor; the exchange rate of RMB against USD is consumed as 6.30; ^#Data from surveyed hospitals.

According to Aon Hewitt’s employee engagement study, compensation is an important element in maintaining Chinese employees’ engagement [9]. Our study showed the relatively lower compensation of physician (3.07 times of all employees) in secondary public hospitals of Pudong New Area, compared to their corresponding colleagues in the United States (4.15 times of all employees), might adversely affect them to provide better medical care to their patients, might lost their attraction to potential physicians and medical students. Physicians’ compensation in Shanghai needs to be increased to maintain at higher level.

In the study, most surveyed hospitals suggested that efficiency and fairness were two fundamental principals in compensation reform in public hospitals of Shanghai. If the compensations for employees are performance- based, efficiency of medical care can be facilitated and fairness can be achieved. The position of employees in a hospital can also be used to appreciate the contribution of employees to its organization. We think the new compensation reform in public hospitals in Shanghai should be carefully designed to increase employees’ satisfaction and to have good incentive for better medical care.