Hospital CEOs Still Receiving Volume-based Incentives

At many non-profit hospitals nationwide, top CEOs are still being compensated for volume, rather than value, based care delivery. Such incentives undermine the healthcare reform laws that aim to cut costs and limit unncessary treatments. Kaiser Health News reports:

Like hospital leaders everywhere, the people running Valley Medical Center in Renton, Wash., talk frequently about the need to control soaring medical costs.

"We are working to reduce the overall cost of health care and to transform health care delivery," Lisa Jensen, chairwoman of the hospital's board of trustees, said last year.

Experts believe that's a good prescription for the entire U.S. health industry, which costs the economy far more than systems in other developed countries, delivers mediocre results and is widely seen as unsustainable at its current growth rate.

But even as Valley officials talk about change, they're paying hospital CEO Richard Roodman tens of thousands of dollars in bonuses for driving the kind of profits and expansion many say are no longer affordable for patients, employers and taxpayers.

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