Health in the news – July 13

Money and medicine

KUOW looks at the salaries of Seattle’s top docs and charity care Washington non-profit hospitals give

John Ryan, a reporter for Seattle’s Public Radio affiliate KUOW, looked at how much Seattle-area hospitals, most of which enjoy the tax benefits of non-profit status, pay their top officials and how much charity care they provide.

Salaries, Ryan reports, often top $1 million a year:

KUOW has learned that 15 nonprofit hospital leaders in the Seattle area earned at least $1 million in 2007. This elite group includes the CEOs of Swedish, Providence, Virginia Mason, Group Health, Seattle Children’s and MultiCare in Tacoma. Another three dozen hospital officials in King, Pierce and Snohomish counties earned at least half a million that year.

Charity care, Ryan found, is often less than 2% of revenues:

Only three of the nonprofit hospitals in central Puget Sound give away more than 2 percent of their care to the poor: Providence Regional in Everett, Saint Clare in Lakewood, and Saint Francis in Federal Way.

To learn more:

• Visit KUOW’s Web page where you can either listen to or read the transcripts of Ryan’s reports.

Sotomayor’s nomination a milestone for people with diabetes, too

Two Seattle Times op-ed columnist point out that the nomination of Judge Sonia Sotomayor to the Supreme Court is sign of how we’ve come in the management of diabetes, a disease that not so long ago was considered a death sentence.

In the column, Irl B Hirsch, a professor of medicine at the University of Washington, and James S. Hirsch, author of “Cheating Destiny: Living with Diabetes” write:

But Judge Sotomayor’s nomination should be given its historic due. If a Latina would have never been considered for the highest court 40 years ago or even 20 years ago, neither would have a person with diabetes. Workplace discrimination was common; social stigmas flourished; misperceptions were the norm.

To learn more:

• Read the Seattle Times op-ed: Sotomayor’s nomination is historic also because she is living successfully with diabetes

Category: Diabetes, Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center, Group Health Cooperative, Harborview, Hospital News, Seattle Cancer Care Alliance, Seattle Children's, Swedish Hospital, University of Washington, VA Puget Sound, Valley Medical Center, Virginia Mason