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Hartford HealthCare Raises Minimum Wage to $15 Per Hour

Analysis  |  By Jack O'Brien  
   January 16, 2019

The Connecticut-based health system's wage increase will take effect on March 31.

Hartford HealthCare is raising its minimum wage to $15 per hour at the end of March, the health system announced Monday.

The decision will increase the hourly pay rate for more than 2,400 employees at the Connecticut-based system, accounting for more than 10% of its workforce.

Hartford HealthCare stated that it expects the investment to result in higher employee retention and bolster its ability to offer competitive benefits to available clinical and operational talents.

"This important decision is a reflection of our respect for our staff and a product of our core value of integrity that calls us to 'do the right thing,'" Elliot Joseph, CEO of Hartford HealthCare, said in a statement. "Investing in the financial security of those who work with us is further recognition of everyone’s contributions to carrying out our mission."

This marks the latest development in a trend among hospitals and health systems to increase the minimum wage for employees, though the implementation of such strategies has varied by geographic locations.

Related: Hospitals Hike Minimum Wage in Geographic Clusters

In the course of the past few years, health systems have embraced higher pay as part of their strategic vision for organizational success.

When the University of Pittsburgh Medical Center announced it was raising its minimum wage to $15 per hour in April 2016, that represented the largest system to increase pay at the time.

However, smaller regional systems and community hospitals often lack the resources to implement a wage increase. Portland-based Maine Medical Center said in early 2016 that the $15 per hour minimum wage was infeasible for the system.

Other systems have raised the minimum wage, but not to the $15 per hour threshold sought by some Democratic lawmakers and progressive activists.

Between 2015 and 2016, IU Health and Ascension Health both raised their respective minimum wages to $11 per hour, while Novant Health raised the minimum wage to $12.50 per hour this past August. 

Jack O'Brien is the Content Team Lead and Finance Editor at HealthLeaders, an HCPro brand.


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