Hospitals ‘padding the pockets of their executives’ during the pandemic

Letter to the Editor — The Boston Globe
Published September 12, 2022

As a member of the Massachusetts state Senate representing the Middlesex and Worcester district, I was frustrated when I read the article “Some hospital CEOs saw pay increases in 2020” (Business, Aug. 18) in The Boston Globe. This is yet another example of executives taking advantage of public sympathy and public money at the expense of their workers.

In 2020, our health care workers were on the front lines of an unprecedented pandemic — one that put them and their families in danger. In too many cases, these health care workers were without the proper protective equipment. There were concerns about overwhelmed hospital wards and not enough staff to care for all who might become hospitalized with COVID-19. The state and federal governments stepped in, providing hundreds of millions of dollars in aid to mitigate these issues. But hospitals did not exclusively use these funds to address these problems.

I decried the furloughs and layoffs of direct patient care staff when they were occurring in 2020, but to see now that not only were these hospitals sending these essential workers away — many were doing it while padding the pockets of their executives. Going forward, the state and federal governments must ensure that funds provided to hospitals have specific parameters on how the money should be spent; and if hospitals do not follow these directives, they should have the funds clawed back.

Sincerely,

State Senator Jamie Eldridge
Middlesex and Worcester District

This letter to the Boston Globe’s editor was published by the Globe on September 12, 2022. The letter can be accessed on the publication’s website.

The news story referenced in this letter was published by the Boston Globe August 17, 2022. Read the story written by Globe reporter Jessica Bartlett here.