Patient Quality of Care Suffers as Hospital CEO’s Pockets Bulge

Hospital CEOs Reap the Benefits of Unaffordable Healthcare

The healthcare system is in dire straits in this country. Every day we hear about what needs to be done to curb the rising costs of healthcare, but few of these notions seem to resolve the problem. What is even more disturbing are reports stemming from Valley Medical Center in Renton, Washington that the CEO is receiving giant bonuses for doing the exact opposite from what many experts say is what patients can't afford: hospital expansions and patient overload.

Patient Quality of Care Suffers as CEO's Pockets Bulge

Unfortunately, hospital expansions and too many patients often lead to poorer quality results. For example, Richard Roodman, CEO at Valley received a bonus of over $200k for meeting the hospital's "financial goals and expansion" on top of his $1.2 million regular salary. These types of bonuses reward hospital CEOs for meeting the topline and revenue goals instead of supporting business models that improve patient quality of care.

Healthcare System is Bloated

Studies have found that nearly 30% of what's spent on healthcare is unnecessary and U.S. hospitals spend twice as much on each discharged patient compared to other countries, but without much better results. It's clear to see from research on the top nonprofit and government-supported hospital that CEOs get paid for keeping the healthcare system's profits high and patient quality of care mediocre, at best. However, CEOs are quick to point out that part of their bonuses include clinical quality, patient satisfaction and other goals. Nevertheless, experts say that the larger portion of these large bonuses are based on such measures as boosting profits, surgeries, admissions and outpatient visits. Obviously, our healthcare system needs a reboot, and that includes over-the-top pay for hospital CEOs that are more concerned about the bottom line, no matter the cost to patients' health.