WASHINGTON – Data from the Washington Department of Health shows Washington hospitals paid over 20 million dollars in bonuses to hospital executives during the start of the pandemic in 2020.
Health care workers on the frontlines are stressed and tired with staffing shortages building up.
One local nurse tells me that knowing how much extra money her hospital’s executives are making, makes things even worse.
“It makes me sick to my stomach,” said Nikki May, Registered ICU Nurse for Kadlec Medical Center. “it’s kind of like a slap in the face.”
The Washington Department of Health recently released hospital executive employee financial data for 2020.
Locally, Prosser Memorial Health’s lead administrator received a nearly $26,000 bonus.
Walla Walla’s Providence St. Mary Medical Center’s lead administrator got a $102,000 bonus.
And, Kadlec Regional Medical Center’s lead administrator got $134,000, that’s on top of their $374,000 salary.
“They say they appreciate us, they send us messages with appreciation but there’s no real show of appreciation you know?” said May.
May says numbers like these not only make her feel unappreciated, they’re also shocking.
“For somebody to come and make 40 percent more than they did the year before and they are not in the trenches with us, taking on these risks of taking care of these COVID patients, taking on these extra patients that we are because of the staffing crisis,” said May. “We’re taking on more patients than we’ve ever had before, sicker patients than we’ve ever had before.”
May says nurses at Kadlec did get a bonus towards the end of 2021, but she says the $2,000 was about 2% of her salary compared to a 35% bonus for the lead administrator of the hospital.
“it’s kind of a slap in the face for you to say, you know, you’re worth a bonus but we’re not, that’s essentially what you’re saying,” said May.
The Washington State Nurses Association says that hospitals are putting their priorities in the wrong places.
“I do understand that they are under a lot of pressure but so are the staff,” said David Keepnews, Executive Director of the Washington State Nurses Association. “So are the nurses and other staff who are providing care and I think that aside from the numbers themselves and the amount of salaries it’s a matter of where hospitals are putting their priorities.”
I reached out to Kadlec Medical Center about the bonuses for both the executives for the hospital as well as nursing staff and they sent a statement saying…
“Nurses are paid in accordance with the contracts their unions negotiate for them. They have not negotiated at-risk pay arrangements—they are paid for the hours they work. In contrast, some of our senior nurse managers do have at-risk pay as part of their compensation packages, as do our executive leaders. At-risk pay is not given if a leader fails to meet performance requirements. Bonuses for frontline caregivers and the payment of at-risk incentive pay to executives is an apples-to-oranges comparison.”
