Obscenity of nursing home CEO salaries exposed
MELBOURNE: COVID-19 has exposed both the ineptitude of nursing home group chief executive officers and the obscenity of their engorged salary packages.
These nursing homes are supposed to be nonprofits, but their directors are raking in fat salaries, bonuses and benefits.
The heads of five homes had pay packages that neared $1 million or topped it, according to a review of 2018 tax filings for the facilities, the latest available.
The compensation for Daniel Reingold, the CEO of the Hebrew Home in Riverdale, came to $1.5 million including a salary of $833,930, a bonus of $197,910 and “other compensation” of $412,947, making him the highest-paid administrator of the city’s nonprofit facilities
With 751 beds, the Hebrew Home is the largest nonprofit nursing home in the state and is part of RiverSpring Health which includes assisted living and other housing arrangements.
It has had 25 deaths related to the coronavirus since the outbreak began, said spokeswoman Wendy Steinberg.
Reingold got a supplemental payout in 2018 “to create industry parity for his 30 years of service and his turning age 65,” Steinberg said. She added his compensation was reduced by 42% this year because of the organization’s “financial challenges.”
Scott LaRue, who heads ArchCare, the Archdiocese of New York’s nursing home network, had a compensation package worth $1.47 million including a salary of $829,452, a $222,834 bonus and retirement payout of $109,591. His salary was 13% higher than the previous year.
ArchCare spokesman Jon Goldberg said the organization operates a “diverse billion-dollar healthcare system” and to compare it to other nursing home operators “in most respects, including compensation, would be apples to oranges.”
Goldberg said the organization paid more than $1 million in appreciation bonuses to front-line caregivers during the coronavirus outbreak, but would not say if any executives took pay cuts.
Alexander Balko, who heads the Metropolitan Jewish Health System, got a $1 million salary and a bonus of $200,000, plus $66,877 in other compensation and $124,000 in deferred compensation and other unspecified benefits.
The system runs the Isabella Geriatric Center in Manhattan which has had at least 98 deaths linked to COVID-19.
A spokeswoman for the health system did not comment on whether any executives were taking pay cuts amid the crisis.
The salary and benefits for Michael Rosenblut, president of the Parker Jewish Institute in Queens, came to $1.2 million in 2018. The state said 53 residents of the 527-bed home had died of COVID-19 as of Wednesday. A spokeswoman did not return a call for comment.
Emma DeVito, who heads Village Care of New York in Manhattan, received $950,000 in compensation, including salary of $664,849 and a $155,685 bonus. A representative for the organization did not return a request for comment.
Most nursing homes are largely funded with payments from the government’s Medicaid and Medicare programs, but they can only pay executives up to $190,000 a year with Medicaid money.
