Nurses and Patient Advocates to Testify Wednesday at State House Hearing on Hospital Profit Transparency & Fairness Act

BOSTON, June 2, 2015 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- Nurses and health care advocates will testify at a hearing before the Massachusetts Health Care Financing Committee on the Hospital Profit Transparency and Fairness Act (S623/H979). Co-sponsored by State Senator Michael Moore (D-Millbury) and State Rep. Josh Cutler (D-Duxbury), the measure will guarantee the taxpayers' right to know exactly how their health care dollars are spent by hospital administrators.

State House Hearing: Wednesday, June 3 at 11 a.m.
State House, Room B2

Press Availability/Special Delivery: Prior to the hearing at 10:30 a.m.
Fat Cat Hospital CEO (accompanied by a delegation of nurses) will deliver Cayman Island Greeting Cards to legislators and the State House Press Room. To view and listen to the card visit: http://youtu.be/ks9M7k8d3c4

Most hospitals in Massachusetts receive at least half their revenues from tax dollars, including Medicare, Medicaid,  taxpayer funded grants, loans, subsidies and waivers on local, state and federal taxes. The hearing on the bill comes as the legislature finalizes the state budget, which will include provisions detailing how much of our tax dollars they will provide hospital administrators. Yet legislators and voters have NO idea how much money hospitals store in offshore accounts or why hospitals don't keep their excess reserves in Massachusetts' banks. At the same time, Hospital CEOs in our state are paid excessive salary packages that bear no relationship to the quality of care and patient outcomes like readmission rates and infection rates, where our hospitals rank among the worst in the nation.

To draw attention to the issue on the day of the hearing, a Hospital CEO mascot dressed in a "Fat Cat" costume will deliver audible Cayman Island Greeting cards to all the legislators and the State House press corps. Advocates will also provide lists of the more than 40 hospitals with funds stored in offshore accounts and urge legislators to demand greater transparency by passing the HPTFA. To identify hospitals with offshore accounts in your coverage area, see the full listing that appears at the end of this advisory. Press is invited to accompany the Fat Cat mascot as he delivers Cayman Island Greeting Cards to legislators. (Great Visuals & Photo Ops)

The transparency act requires that hospitals receiving taxpayer subsidies disclose in a timely and fully transparent manner how large their profit margins are, how much money they hold in offshore accounts and how much compensation they pay their CEOs. When hospitals like North Adams Regional Hospital and Quincy Medical Center are closing while at the same time other hospitals are closing pediatric, detox and psychiatric units, policy makers have the right to know if tax dollars are being spent to benefit patients or hospital CEOs. To ensure access to needed services by all patients, the act also provides enhanced funding options for hospitals serving poorer populations. Click here to view the full text of the bill.   

"As health care costs continue to grow for individuals across Massachusetts, the Commonwealth has been forced to increase health care expenditures at an unsustainable rate," said Senator Michael Moore. "With so much of the system subsidized by taxpayers, citizens deserve to know that their tax dollars are being used to secure the best possible treatment for patients. This bill greatly increases transparency and accountability at our hospitals, promoting responsible and effective spending of critical tax dollars."

Below is a complete list of Massachusetts hospitals with offshore accounts:

Founded in 1903, the Massachusetts Nurses Association is the largest professional health care organization and the largest union of registered nurses in the Commonwealth of Massachusetts.  Its 23,000 members advance the nursing profession by fostering high standards of nursing practice, promoting the economic and general welfare of nurses in the workplace, projecting a positive and realistic view of nursing, and by lobbying the Legislature and regulatory agencies on health care issues affecting nurses and the public. The MNA is also a founding member of National Nurses United, the largest national nurses' union in the United States with more than 170,000 members from coast to coast.

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SOURCE Massachusetts Nurses Association