LifePoint brass waiting to hear about 2012 raises

Here's something from the executive compensation world we can't recall seeing before: A number of the top executives at LifePoint Hospitals, including Chairman and CEO Bill Carpenter, have been told by their board compensation committee that they'll find out later this year whether they got a raise.

In the hospital chain's recently filed proxy [2] statement, the committee said that, "based on current market and industry conditions, [they had] deferred a decision regarding merit increases to the base salary of NEOs until later in 2012, with the exception of Messrs. Sherman and Bumpus, who were awarded modest adjustments to bring their respective base salary in line with the market median and/or the Peer Group."

A LifePoint spokeswoman said the company didn't have any further comment on the board's non-decision or on just which market and industry conditions had influenced their decision. But those conditions didn't seem to deter directors at HCA earlier this year [3].