A $1 Million Cap on a Nonprofit Hospital CEOs Salary Could Mean 90 More Nurses on Staff

An article discussing the CEO salaries of Midwest hospitals was interesting to me for several reasons. In the article Nonprofit hospital CEO salaries in the Midwest: Who’s on top?. Randall O’Donnell who is the CEO at Children’s Mercy Hospital and Clinics; Kansas City, Missouri, makes a cool $6 million a year.

That’s a $6 million salary at an organization that is nonprofit. The organization may be called a nonprofit, but the CEO certainly ain’t going hungry.

First I thought:

• “I could do it for $3 million.”

Then I thought:

• “What on earth do people do with a $6 million annual salary?”

And finally I thought:

• “How many nurses could they hire if they their CEOs made a measly $1 million a year?”

So let’s examine the scenario of the CEO taking a pay cut and getting a pitiful $1 million annual salary.

How many nurses could that hospital employ for 1 year on $5 million?

According to indeed.com

the average nurses annual salary is $65,000 a year in Kansas City, MO

. Simply Hired puts it at

$49,000 average annual salary for a registered nurse.

And according to ehow.com, in 2009 the

average registered nurse salary in Missouri  was $55,150

.

So lets pick the median of the 3, and go with $55,150.

How many nurses with a salary of $55,150 annually could be hired for $5 million?

$5,000,000 divided by $55,150 is 90.67.

At least 90 nurses could feed their family and help to provide better patient care if the hospital CEO didn’t need to $6 million annually to stay put.

Here are the rest of the salaries reported in the article.

1. Randall O’Donnell; Children’s Mercy Hospital and Clinics; Kansas City, Missouri: $6 million
2. Javon Bea; Mercy Health System; Janesville, Wisconsin: $4.5 million
3. James Skogsbergh; Advocate Health Care; Oak Brook, Illinois: $4 million
4. Dean Harrison; Northwestern Memorial Hospital; Chicago, Illinois: $3.4 million
5. Richard Pettingill; Allina Health System; Minneapolis, Minnesota: $3.3 million
6. Joseph Swedish; Trinity Health; Novi, Michigan: $2.7 million
7. Lowell Kruse; Heartland Regional Medical Center; St. Joseph, Missouri: $2.5 million
8. Steven Lipstein; BJC Health System; St. Louis, Missouri: $2.2 million
9. Kevin Schoeplein; OSF Healthcare System; Peoria, Illinois: $2.2 million
10. Thomas Sieber; Genesis Healthcare System; Zanesville, Ohio: $2.1 million
11. Paul Pawlak; Silver Cross Hospital; Joliet, Illinois: $2 million
12. Toby Cosgrove; Cleveland Clinic; Cleveland, Ohio: $1.9 million
13. William Petasnick; Froedtert Memorial Hospital; Milwaukee, Wisconsin: $1.9 million
14. Fred Manchur; Kettering Medical Center; Dayton, Ohio: $1.9 million
15. Patrick Magnon; Children’s Memorial Hospital; Chicago, Illinois: $1.8 million
16. Kenneth Hanover; University Hospital; Cincinnati, Ohio: $1.8 million
17. J. Luke McGuinness; Central Dupage Hospital; Winfield, Illinois: $1.8 million
18. Daniel Evans Jr.; Clarian Health Partners; Indianapolis, Indiana: $1.8 million
19. James Madera; University of Chicago Medical Center; Chicago, Illinois: $1.8 million
20. James Anderson; Cincinnati Children’s Hospital Medical Center; Cincinnati, Ohio: $1.8 million

Via Medcity News: Nonprofit hospital CEO salaries in the Midwest: Who’s on top?

Let us not forget that nonprofits usually receive sizeable donations to help fund their facilities. And of course they eagerly accept them. But $6 million a year for a CEO responsible for running a hospital? Really?

Personally, I think $6 million could be use much more responsibly to run a hospital.

Where do you think the money should be spent in nonprofits? CEO pockets or on more nurses to better staff the units?