By: Fred Crooks
The President of the United States makes $450,000 and this is the amount that California unions hope to cap non-profit hospital executive salaries at.
– George Halvorson, CEO Kaiser Permanente: $7,861,915
– Lloyd Dean, CEO Dignity Health: $3,907,346
– Patrick Fry, CEO Sutter Health: $3,045,216
– James Brewster, VP Adventist Health Roseville: $2,010,040
– Robert Carmen, CEO Adventist Health Roseville: $1,741,988
– Stanley Adams, VP Adventist Health: $1,563,496
– Thomas Gagen, CEO Sutter Medical Center Sacramento: $1,391,316
– Patrick Brady, CEO Sutter Roseville Medical Center: $1,059,659
As you can see, non-profit hospital executives make well over $450,000. There is concern about how non-profit hospitals are “non-profit.” The California Nurses association tried to pass AB975, which would have required nonprofit hospitals to justify their nonprofit status if their revenues exceeded expenditures by more than 10 percent. The health labor union, SEIU, supports the ballot called the Fair Healthcare Pricing Act, which would prevent nonprofit hospitals from charging more than 25 percent above the cost of patient care.
Nonprofit Hospitals have always presented issues for the nonprofit sector since there are close to no differences between them and for-profit hospitals.
Nonprofit Hospital
– Don’t pay state or local taxes since they are considered a charity.
– Provide higher levels of uncompensated care.
For Profit Hospital
– Owned by private investors and must pay property tax.
– Provide more care for Medicaid insured patients.
The Congressional Budget Office (CBO) found that “on average, nonprofit hospitals provided higher levels of uncompensated care than did otherwise similar for-profit hospitals. Among individual hospitals, however, the provision of uncompensated care varied widely, and the distributions for nonprofit and for-profit hospitals largely overlapped. Nonprofit hospitals were more likely than otherwise similar for-profit hospitals to provide certain specialized services but were found to provide care to fewer Medicaid-covered patients as a share of their total patient population. On average, nonprofit hospitals were found to operate in areas with higher average incomes, lower poverty rates, and lower rates of un-insurance than the for-profit hospitals.”
Is it constitutional to cap a salary? Couldn’t they simply have all hospitals be for-profit and take the non-profit name away? Is this truly an issue of nonprofit merit or is it the distribution of finances amongst hardworking individuals?
Do you think it is possible for CEOs and VPs of nonprofit hospitals to be making salaries over one million dollars and still be called a “nonprofit?”