Daviess Community Hospital announces $1.6 million annual wage investment

Daviess Community Hospital (DCH) has announced an investment of over $1.6 million to its employees’ annual wages to strengthen recruitment and retention and support access to high-quality care close to home. As part of this initiative, the inpatient registered nurse pay scale has been increased by over 30%, from $33 to $45 per hour.

In addition to the nursing scale change, DCH has implemented hourly wage adjustments across the organization to improve market competitiveness as the hospital has entered into a focused growth mode over the next 24 months.

“Investing in our people is the most important step we can take to keep care local,” said Justin D. Harris, MSHA, MBA, FACHE, Chief Executive Officer of DCH. “These wage actions strengthen our ability to recruit and retain exceptional caregivers, expand services, and deliver the kind of dependable access families expect from their community hospital. We’re focused on growing key areas like women’s health, general surgery and GI, urology, musculoskeletal and specialty and primary care so patients don’t have to travel for quality healthcare.”

DCH employs more than 400 people across its regional footprint, which includes a 48-bed hospital, seven specialty clinics and seven outpatient clinics. The wage initiative is part of a broader strategy to enhance patient access, support workforce development and sustain service growth throughout southwestern Indiana.

“This is a meaningful step forward, and we are just getting started,” Harris said. “Beginning in 2026, we will move to performance-based evaluations with compensation incentives, aligning recognition and rewards with the outcomes our teams deliver for patients. In return, our employees are excited about the growth that we are embarking upon. Most notably, we will look to transition our electronic health record (EMR) to Epic next year which will create more efficiency for our clinicians and easier access for our patients to see and interact with their health records and providers. Daviess Community Hospital is a face for change, and we ask for you to join us as we embark on this journey together!”