CMO Duties Intensify, But Compensation Lags

However, the survey notes that 15% indicated "dissatisfaction with their current position, citing significant changes in their duties from previous years resulting in more responsibilities, suggesting that they like being a physician executive but not necessarily in their present situation."

"Their jobs are changing, their responsibilities are increasing and there is probably more work for them to do," says Rehman. "For physicians, more work is not often seen as a disadvantage, but rather a sign of their value to their organizations." In addition, they "assigned work volume" may be too much as part of an expanded job. There may be also instances in which management skills may be required that "they feel they may not have," Rehman says.

And some executives may feel some added stress, he says, because of the physician executive work. "Most physician executives seem to be working as hard if not harder than when they were not in the exec role," he says.