About The Project
The Healthcare Executive Compensation Project is a free, open-source compensation benchmarking platform for senior healthcare executives at U.S. hospitals and health systems. All compensation data is self-reported, anonymous, and published in aggregate under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 license. The source code is licensed under AGPL-3.0.
Why It Exists
Commercial compensation surveys cost thousands of dollars a year and are only accessible to organizations that pay for them. The individual executives whose data those surveys are built on — the people the numbers are actually about — often have no reliable benchmark when negotiating their own packages. Compensation data about you should be accessible to you. That's a belief about transparency and fairness, not a business model.
Privacy is foundational, not a feature. The survey collects no names, no employer names, and requires no email to submit. IP addresses are hashed for duplicate detection and never stored in their original form. Data is only ever displayed in aggregate with strict minimum thresholds. The architecture minimizes identifying information by design — there is simply nothing in a submission that ties it to a specific person.
Open source matters. The code is public so anyone can verify how data is collected, stored, and aggregated. The aggregated data is CC BY 4.0 so anyone can use it — researchers, boards, consultants, executives, journalists. If this project disappears tomorrow, the data and the code survive. The platform is infrastructure, not a product.
Who Built It
The Healthcare Executive Compensation Project is built and maintained by John Montgomery, an independent financial advisor and founder of Montgomery Wealth Advisors, a registered investment advisory firm specializing in healthcare executives.
Frequently Asked Questions
How is my anonymity protected?
No names, employer names, or email addresses are collected in the survey. IP addresses are hashed using one-way SHA-256 hashing for duplicate detection — the original IP is never stored. Data is only displayed in aggregate when at least 5 submissions exist for a given statistic, and no single submission can represent more than 25% of any displayed figure. The public-facing API only returns aggregated statistics — individual submissions are never exposed through the website or data exports.
Who can see my individual submission?
Individual submissions are never displayed on the website, in data exports, or through the public API. All public data access goes through aggregation functions that enforce minimum thresholds. The database administrator can access raw data for maintenance, but submissions contain no personally identifying information — no names, emails, or employer names are ever collected.
How do invite codes work?
The platform uses an invite code system to maintain data quality. Each submitter receives 3 new invite codes after completing the survey, which they can share with peers. Codes are single-use. This creates a trust chain where each participant vouches for the next, similar to how professional networks naturally operate.
How is this funded?
This project has no sponsors, no advertising, no revenue, and no investors. It is built and maintained independently by John Montgomery. Infrastructure costs (hosting, database) are minimal and paid out of pocket. There is no business model. The project exists because the data should be free and accessible.
Is this affiliated with any hospital system, consulting firm, or trade association?
No. This project is fully independent. It is not affiliated with any healthcare organization, compensation consulting firm, trade association, or industry group. The open-source licensing ensures that no single entity controls the project.
Can I use the data?
Yes. All aggregated data is published under Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 (CC BY 4.0). You can share, redistribute, and remix it for any purpose, including commercial use. The only requirement is attribution: “Source: The Healthcare Executive Compensation Project, healthcomp.org.” Raw individual submissions are never published or made available.
Is the data verified?
Data is self-reported and not independently verified. The platform uses validation rules, range checks, and the invite code trust chain to maintain data quality, but all results should be treated as benchmarks from self-reported data, not audited figures. This is not a substitute for professional compensation analysis.
What technology is this built on?
Next.js, Supabase (PostgreSQL), and Tailwind CSS. The source code is available at github.com/HealthCompProject/healthcomp under AGPL-3.0.