I was disappointed to see a link in Becker's yesterday to a recent Steve Brill article that mentioned the CEO of Greenwich (Conn.) Hospital. While I'm sure it was not Becker's intent, by sharing a link to the story, they inadvertently perpetuated the intentionally distorted information contained in the article.
Executive compensation is a favorite issue of writers such as Mr. Brill, and its coverage is clearly fair game. However, the callous disregard of information that was provided in a timely manner is not a hallmark of fair coverage.
Let's state the facts for the record. Mr. Roth, president of Greenwich Hospital, did not receive a salary of $2.9 million in FY 2015. Period.
The facts, as laid out to Mr. Brill, are that in 2015, Mr. Roth became fully vested in his retirement account because of his age and more than 36 years with Yale New Haven Health. The money accrued in that account will remain there until he retires. However, according to federal financial regulations, taxes must be paid in full for a retirement account following its full vesting.
As explained to Mr. Brill, in order to determine the accurate compensation paid to Mr. Roth, the deferred compensation would need to be deducted and the resulting amount is $775,000, which includes benefits and bonus.
So let's be clear, since the article was not: Mr. Roth did not receive a lump sum payment of $2.9 million. He did however, pay taxes on the deferred income, which reflected his savings over a 36-year career at Yale New Haven Health. His real salary for that year was $775,000 – a fact that was provided but sadly ignored by Mr. Brill as he wrote the story.
Now anyone can argue the relative value of executive compensation. But, the starting point for that conversation should always be based upon the facts.
— Vin Petrini, Senior Vice President of Public Affairs, Yale New Haven Health