Report Inappropriate Comments

With the changes forced onto hospitals through the affordable care act, Kent, and every other Hospital in the country absolutely needs to respond with a financial restructuring. But they are way off base by taking money away from the Nurses and CNA's that are the absolute backbone of everything Care New England does. If you look at the administrative structure of Kent, you will see that there is an amazing amount of waste and overcompensation from the C.E.O. on down. It's clear that the game has changed and things aren't the way they used to be from an administrative perspective, but what the administration fails to realize is that nothing has changed on the Hospital floor. Nurses and C.N.A.'s are still going above and beyond every single minute of every single day, because they care for their patients, and the people of this community. I'd like to personally thank the Nurses and CNA's at Kent, as well as the support staff that helps to make the amazing things you do every day possible. The administrative body at Care New England should be ASHAMED of themselves for trying to cut the budget from what they see as the bottom up. But don't take my word for it. Below is just one of many articles on the subject of bloated CEO and administrative pay in not for profit hospitals.

From: http://www.golocalprov.com/news/rhode-island-non-profit-hospital-ceos-criticized-for-big-paychecks/

"A sense of CEO entitlement

High CEO pay is only the tip of the hospital-waste iceberg, according to Sager. He points out that hospitals - both for-profit and non-profit - across America spend way too much on administrative costs. He calculates that waste to be about 20 percent of the country’s $2.5-trillion annual health-care price tag – or about $500 billion annually.

This would not be the case if U.S. hospitals “were paid in simpler ways,” Sager maintains, because they would need far fewer highly paid administrators below the CEO level. They would also require much fewer clerks and accountants, he adds, “who have to track the money.”

Returning to high hospital-CEO salaries, Sager points out that “they are very visible to everybody who works in health care,” such as the registered nurse who makes 20 times less than the CEO. “It also leads to this sense of CEO entitlement,” he adds, “when they think they’re actually worth 20 nurses.”

Sager once thought big hospital-CEO salaries were “a side show, and why pick on individuals? But now I think the high salaries are a symptom of so much that’s toxic inside health care.”

In response to Sager’s strong words about hospital CEO pay, Detoy, of the Rhode Island Medical Society, says, “Obviously, he’s been studying this for a long time, so I’m not going to argue with him.” As the various components of Obamacare take effect, he adds, “there’s a lot of people making a lot of money in health care, and they’re usually not the ones who are actually delivering the [hospital] care. [Instead, they are] those who are running insurance companies, running hospitals, and running durable-medical-

equipment businesses.”

At least one key factor has changed in the growing compensation disparity at American hospitals. There was a time when the doctors believed they were worth 20 nurses. Now, that hubris lies squarely in the CEO suites."