(Snippets from the frontline)
The beat goes on
We continually hear about salaries, bonuses, and compensations of major company CEOs unfairly outpacing those of the common worker. This is especially true in healthcare, illustrated by online data for the heads of medical insurance companies, pharmaceutical manufacturers, and hospital administrators.
Our community hospital is non-profit, run by a Board of Directors. Because of their IRS status as a 501(c)(3), Form 990 must be published for public viewing.
The most recent information from 2013, 2014, 2015 reveals the CEO base salary was $444,039, $590,722, and $526,694 respectively. With added bonuses, incentives, and retirement compensation for each of these years, the total package was $628,192, $662,172, and $1,105,091.
For the 11 or so other hospital administrative officers and directors, total bonuses and compensation were $788,316, $724,813, and $1,760,748 for those years.
One can only extrapolate these escalating numbers for 2016, 2017, and 2018.
Obtaining IRS Form 990 is not an easy task, so hopefully members of our community can further uncover more recent online data.
All communities must be wary profits from any cost-cutting effort should not be secretively slipped into the pockets of hospital administrators.
Gene Uzawa Dorio, M.D.
1. Send your data via your web site every year to every pre-med student, med student, intern, resident, fellow, practicing and retired doctor to ask them about what constitutes an ethical hospital. We all have a choice.
2. Send the results of your yearly survey to Senator Grassley: He blew the whistle on a “not for frofit” hospital in Missouri that was taking the tax-exemption and still suing poor people. See also Michael Mather’s article (“Charity Profiting Millions” ~8 December 2010) in the Norfolk, Virginia paper. How many “nonprofits” are doing this? We have a choice–why associate with such a “teaching” hospital? What are they teaching? H