
Who earned more in 2018, our hospital readers or our surgery center readers? Depends. If you’re going straight salary, slightly better to be in a hospital. But if you’re going salary plus bonus, slightly better to be in an ASC. Outpatient Surgery Magazine’s 2018 Salary Survey found that hospital OR managers averaged around $2,300 more in salary than ambulatory surgery center administrators — $109,384 to $107,050. But surgery center leaders were paid around $3,700 more in bonuses than their hospital counterparts — $7,734 to $4,029. When you add it all up, gross income was nearly $1,400 more at ASCs ($114,784) than at hospitals ($113,413). Better to have a bigger salary than a bigger bonus, but money is money, right?
Well, not always.