Another Reason for Hope? - Concern about Excessive Executive Pay in Health Care Goes Mainstream

Another recent case suggested that the problem of excess, disproportionate compensation of health care executives is becoming more of a mainstream concern. The Case of Eastern Connecticut Health Network The case appeared in the Manchester (CT) Journal-Inquirer (link requires subscription).  Here are the basics:ECHN Inc., which owns Mancester Memorial and Rockville General hospitals, reported to the IRS last year that the company paid its president and CEO, Peter J Karl, a total of $1,042,200 in salary and fringe benefits.  That's a 30.7 percent increase over Karl's compensation reported in the previous year,....ECHN also reported that six other top executives were paid between $254,640 and $591,090, representing increases of as much as 20.6 percent. ECHN is yet another relatively small non-profit hospital system with a million dollar plus CEO.For comment on this, I turn back to the Journal-Inquirer article.  One person the reporter interviewedsays the big salaries and bonuses paid to top officials at Eastern Connecticut Health Network are part of a national scandal over executive compensation propelled by the 'pursuit of talent for short-term gains.''The hospital industry is emblematic of what's happened in executive compensation in the United States, where the multiple of the lowest- paid employee to get to the salary of the highest-paid employee has just exploded over the last 30 years,'....Furthermore, the person interviewed noted that hospital exe...
Source: Health Care Renewal - Category: Health Medicine and Bioethics Commentators Tags: executive compensation government hospital systems politics Source Type: blogs