In a Nov. 19, 2013 commentary published by InformationWeek, Halamka wrote: “The pace of change is accelerating to the point that scope, time, and resources can no longer be balanced with demand, expectation, and sustainability.”

The situation reminded Kirby of a Far Side cartoon by Gary Larson: Two deer are standing in the woods. One has a birthmark on his chest in the form of a red and white target. The other deer says: “Bummer of a birthmark Hal!"

“I feel like today’s CIO has that target on their chest because they do a lot, and they’re doing a lot more with less in some cases,” Kirby said. “And when things go right and when things go well, they don’t get a whole lot of recognition. But the least little thing goes wrong and they’ve got that bummer of a birthmark, where they’ve got that target on their chest.”

In her view, some organizations recognize the value of CIOs, while others take potshots – “and they’re having to protect their staff from potshots,” she said.

It’s hard for CIOs to respond to all the demands.

“You have somebody out there who says, ‘It’s only going to take 10 minutes. I want it done now.’ But it’s not on the governance list; it’s not on the prioritization. And, you’ve got somebody that’s called, how do you deal with them? It’s not going to take 10 minutes. And, if you don’t get it done that person’s unhappy. It’s a very difficult position – everybody wanting everything and wanting it now.”

The pressure and stress mounts.

“It is a lot of money at stake,” Kirby observed, “and it’s up to these individuals to lead large teams, lead complex projects at the executive level. These projects aren’t IT projects. They’re organizational projects that they want to be successful.”

Pay rises, but does not keep pace

According to the SSi-Search survey and white paper, “the typical healthcare CIO today is a “highly educated male, who has served in the role for 10 years and earns $286,000 a year.”

Branzell believes CIOs are being paid fairly, but the compensation probably has not kept pace with other C-suite jobs.

“Part of it is that the role of being a true C-suite transformational leader is relatively new,” he said. “So, it may take a little time to catch up with the other C-suite leaders from a comp perspective as well as seeing those benefits in there. You know, with great benefit comes reward.

He said most CIOs he knows from the top 50-100 organizations are “all being well taken of.”

Maybe so, but Dixon pointed out that the compensation has not kept pace with the increasing workload. CIOs surveyed reported receiving raises of 10 percent or less over the past five years.

“According to our white paper, the majority report that their responsibilities have increased both in complexity and skill about 25 to 50 percent,” Dixon said. “It’s dramatic.”

“It’s hard to compare healthcare CIOs to CIOs in other industries because our world is so unbelievably complex to begin with, and then we’re going through a tumultuous period right now, and I don't think any other industry can claim that to the same degree that healthcare can in that regard,” Dixon added. “Executives hiring CIOs are probably going to have to think seriously about increasing compensation. We’re seeing that.”

Because there are several CIOs retiring and no one on the bench to hire – Branzell has noticed efforts by organizations to keep their CIOs happy.

“We’re starting to see now the concept of golden handcuffs and packages and contracts that are kind of back-loaded to keep people around,” he said.