Assemblymember Deborah J. Glick, 66th Assembly District, announced introduction today of legislation that would limit total compensation of hospital executives whose hospitals receive public funds to $250,000 annually. This compensation would include salary and any deferred compensation earned, any employer contributions to a retirement plan and any lump-sum cash payment made to the hospital executive.

“I find it unacceptable that hospital executives are crying to the legislature about how much budget cuts would hurt their hospitals and they are being paid excessive salaries in the millions of dollars,” said Assemblymember Glick, “After seeing an article in Crain's New York Business featuring these salaries, I decided that we needed to take a stand on this hemorrhaging of public funds used for salaries.”

The Crain's chart, based on 2008 filings, indicates the cash compensation amounts ranging from $9,827,415 for Herbert Pardes, M.D. President and Chief executive at New York-Presbyterian Hospital down to $1,490,497 for Bernadette Kingham-Bez, senior vice president at Saint Vincent Catholic Medical Centers.

“As we embark on the restructuring of Medicaid and eliminate trend factors and reduce reimbursement rates, we can not look at just one side of the balance sheet. In this era of shared sacrifice, this is a modest proposal,” Glick added.