video: TV Ad Demands Accountability, Transparency for MA Hospital CEO Pay
Tuesday, June 24, 2014
The advertisements, which call for greater transparency on the part of hospitals and their CEOs, condemns the lavish lifestyles led by these CEOs as well as their stashing of millions of tax dollars in offshore bank accounts.
“Taxpayers have the right to know if their tax dollars are paying for patient care or million dollar salaries for hospital CEOs,” said Donna Kelly-Williams, RN, President of the Massachusetts Nurses Association. “And legislators making decisions on reimbursement rates for hospitals should insist that hospitals disclose how much money they store in offshore accounts and why hospitals don’t keep those funds in Massachusetts banks where they would benefit the Massachusetts economy.”
The ads are intended to urge legislators to pass the Hospital Profit Transparency and Fairness Act (H3844). This bill would require hospitals that receive tax dollars to disclose how large their profit margins are, how much money they have in offshore accounts, and how much money they pay their CEOs in a timely fashion.
A Strong Opposition
H3844, while supported by the Massachusetts Nurses Association as well as a population of nurses, doctors, voters, and other organizations, still draws a strong opposition.
Many hospitals and CEOs, as well as organizations like the Massachusetts Hospital Association and the Massachusetts Medical Society, have opposed the bill because much of the data being requested by the bill is already available.
“One stated purpose of the measure is to increase transparency. As such, there are already many opportunities for the public to obtain such information, and for that purpose this measure is unnecessary,” said Richard S. Pieters, MD, president of the Massachusetts Medical Society. “Further, the civil penalties proposed seem arbitrary and punitive. Penalties would be on hospitals whose profits exceed 8 percent, or whose CEOs receive compensation exceeding 100 times the hospital’s lowest paid staff workers. These and other benchmarks have no discernible basis in science or any other objective measure.”
Related Slideshow: Central MA Non-Profit Hospital CEO Pay, From Least To Most
Here are the total annual compensation amounts for the CEOs of the four non-profit hospital groups in Central Massachusetts. The source is each hospital group’s latest available 990 Return of Organization Exempt from Income Tax, which is filed with the IRS and available at Guidestar.org. The CEOs are shown here, from lowest to highest total compensation.
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