Hospital CEOs, execs forgo pay amid COVID-19: 45 updates

Morgan Haefner -

Hospital CEOs and executives across the country are taking pay cuts or donating their pay to employee assistance funds to help offset the financial fallout from COVID-19.

Here are several examples, as of June 5:

1. Lumberton, N.C.-based Southeastern Health will cut compensation for executives, including its CEO, who will see her pay slashed by 46 percent. 

2. Grand Forks, N.D.-based Altru Health System cut executive pay by 30 percent.

3. Essentia in Duluth, Minn., has taken several steps to help offset COVID-19 losses, including reducing physician and executive compensation.

4. The University of Mississippi Medical Center in Jackson cut executive leadership pay by 15 percent. The salary reductions kicked in May 1. It is also reducing salaries for faculty and staff earning more than $100,000 per year by 10 percent for three months starting July 1. 

5. Dallas-based Baylor Scott & White Health is enacting executive pay cuts as a result of financial pressure caused by the pandemic, among other measures.

6. ThedaCare President and CEO Imran Andrabi, MD, will take a 50 percent pay reduction, and other members of the executive team will take a 40 percent cut to help stabilize the Appleton, Wis.-based health system's finances.

7. University Hospitals, based in Cleveland, said it will temporarily cut pay for all physicians and clinical leaders in the organization to help offset losses driven by the pandemic. The new pay cuts come after University Hospitals reduced pay for positions not involving direct patient care, including executives, directors, nonclinical managers, department chairs and division chiefs. Those roles saw pay cuts ranging from 10 percent to 20 percent.

8. King of Prussia, Pa.-based Universal Health Services' executives and other members of its senior management team are taking salary reductions and donating their pay to a fund that provides financial support to the company's employees. 

9. Bend, Ore.-based St. Charles Health System said executives are taking pay cuts to help address financial challenges due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

10. Marietta, Ga.-based Wellstar Health System has implemented executive and physician pay cuts, contract labor eliminations and hiring freezes. 

11. The executive team of Valley View Hospital in Glenwood Springs, Colo., is taking a 10 percent pay cut.

12. Senior leaders, executives and physicians at Norfolk, Va.-based Sentara Healthcare are taking pay cuts to help address an anticipated $778 million shortfall against projected revenue due to COVID-19.

13. Chicago-based Rush University System for Health revealed plans to implement executive pay cuts and suspend bonuses.

14. Leadership and faculty physicians at Maywood, Ill.-based Loyola Medicine will take three-month pay cuts in response to the COVID-19 pandemic.

15. The CEO and other executives at York, Pa.-based WellSpan Health will take pay cuts in response to the COVID-19 pandemic.

16. The CEO of Providence and other executives will take pay cuts through the end of the year due to steep revenue declines the Renton, Wash.-based health system has seen amid the COVID-19 pandemic. 

17. Jim Skogsbergh, CEO of Milwaukee and Downers Grove, Ill.-based Advocate Aurora Health, will take a 50 percent salary cut for at least the next quarter. The salary cut comes as other senior executives from the health system reduce their salaries by 20 percent. The cuts are effective this month. 

18. Cincinnati Children's Hospital Medical Center said employees who are temporarily without work will take pay cuts due to the financial effect of the COVID-19 pandemic. 

19. Citing financial challenges due to COVID-19, Greenville, N.C.-based Vidant Health said it will reduce compensation for executives and staff through furloughs, salary reductions and schedule and shift adjustments.

20. The CEO and vice presidents at West Virginia University Medicine will take salary cuts as the Morgantown-based health system's hospitals face "significant and unsustainable financial strain" due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

21. Beaumont Health CEO John Fox will take a 70 percent pay cut to his base salary, and the executive leadership team of the Southfield, Mich.-based health system will take a 45 percent pay cut. 

22. Dallas-based Tenet Healthcare Executive Chairman and CEO Ron Rittenmeyer will donate 50 percent of his salary from April through October to an employee assistance fund. Other executives in the health system said they also will donate 10 percent to 20 percent of their salaries to the fund. 

23. Beginning in May, Phoenix-based Banner Health's senior leaders, including senior vice presidents, presidents, vice presidents and CEOs, will take a pay cut of up to 20 percent. The senior leadership team also contributed $100,000 to a fund that provides financial support to employees. 

24. Geisinger President and CEO Jaewon Ryu, MD, and the rest of the Danville, Pa.-based health system's executive team have volunteered to take pay cuts and donate the funds to an employee emergency assistance fund. 

25. While Green Valley, Ariz.-based Santa Cruz Valley Regional Hospital is receiving emergency state aid, hospital executives must take a 20 percent pay cut and forgo any bonuses or other salary enhancements.

26. Charleston, S.C.-based MUSC Health is reducing pay for its leadership team by 20 percent.

27. Atrium Health President and CEO Gene Woods and executive leaders donated $2 million to the Charlotte, N.C.-based health system's relief fund to support employees during the COVID-19 crisis.

28. The University of Virginia in Charlottesville, which includes UVA Health, said its executive leaders will take a 10 percent pay cut

29. To help reduce the financial damage from COVID-19, Oklahoma City-based Integris Health's executive team is taking a 20 percent pay cut.

30. To help offset financial losses from the COVID-19 pandemic, Livonia-based Trinity Health's executive leaders are taking up to 25 percent pay cuts, and performance-based bonuses are being eliminated. Trinity Health CEO Mike Slubowski has been taking a 50 percent pay cut since April, which is when the other  cuts went into effect as well.

31. Little Rock, Ark.-based Baptist Health is reducing executive and director salaries.

32. Houston-based Texas Children's 60-member executive team took a 20 percent reduction in its base pay.

33. Mount Sinai Health System President and CEO Kenneth Davis, MD, and his executive team offered and agreed to take a 50 percent pay cut to help offset the significant COVID-19 costs the New York City-based health system is facing.

34. Envision Healthcare said it has cut salaries of its senior leaders in half and plans to cut salaries of nonclinical employees and furlough them.  

35. Franklin, Tenn.-based Community Health Systems' top executives are giving up part of their compensation for the remainder of this year.

36. Eric Dickson, MD, CEO of UMass Memorial Health Care in West Boylston, Mass., and his wife Cathy Jones, MD, are donating their paychecks to UMass Memorial's employee assistance fund.

37. Ascension President and CEO Joseph Impicciche has pledged half of his base salary to the health system's fund to support employees' healthcare education, which now also focuses on workers who face financial hardship during the COVID-19 pandemic.18.

38. Alan Levine, CEO of Ballad Health, said he will forgo 100 percent of his pay during the next 60 days and contribute it to the Johnson City, Tenn.-based health system's employee assistance fund.

39. Nashville, Tenn.-based HCA Healthcare CEO Sam Hazen is donating 100 percent of his pay for two months to a fund that provides financial support to the company's employees. Other members of HCA's senior leadership team are taking a 30 percent pay cut until the COVID-19 pandemic passes.

40. Citing a financial hit from the COVID-19 pandemic, at least 11 executives at Cincinnati-based TriHealth have taken a 20 percent pay cut.

41. The CEO of Boston-based Beth Israel Lahey Health and more than two dozen other executives will take pay cuts to offset some of the financial losses Massachusetts' second-largest health system is facing due to COVID-19.

42. Michael Lauf, president and CEO of Hyannis, Mass.-based Cape Cod Healthcare, said he will give up his $78,000 April salary to help increase cash reserves amid the coronavirus pandemic.

43. The senior leadership team at Shore Medical Center in Somers Point, N.J., is taking pay cuts of between 25 percent and 35 percent of their salary and making donations to the hospital's COVID-19 emergency fund.

44. Chattanooga, Tenn.-based Erlanger Health System said it is implementing a cost-reduction plan prompted by the coronavirus pandemic that includes pay reductions for leadership.

45. Atlanta-based Emory Healthcare leadership committed to a scaled compensation reduction of up to 25 percent for executives and senior leaders.

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