CEOs cashing checks | Philly Health Insider

This week, we look at the salaries of Philly-area health systems’ CEOs. One exec caught our eye in particular for cashing a big check even after he announced that he would leave his leadership post.

And since we are talking about money, we asked health systems about their minimum wage (not everyone wanted to share).

We also take you inside a new lab in South Philly where scientists test everything from blood for HIV and summer camp sandwiches for pathogens. And Ala Stanford shares tips for health systems to build trust with the community.

We end on an update about Temple’s negotiations with Keystone First.

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— Aubrey Whelan and Abraham Gutman, Inquirer health reporters, @abrahamgutman and @aubreywhelan.

Jefferson Health paid its former CEO, Stephen K. Klasko, a whopping $8 million in 2022. That includes a $5 million “recruitment and retention bonus,” the health system’s latest IRS filings show.

The package is likely the highest payday for a local health system CEO ever, eclipsing 2021′s record of $7.7 million that CHOP gave its CEO Madeline Bell.

The $5 million bonus that punctuated Klasko’s tenure came after he said in 2020 that he wanted to leave Jefferson, but agreed to extend his stay to complete two final acquisitions. It’s not clear if the bonus was tied to his staying.

In total, Klasko earned more than $45.6 million over his 8½ years leading Jefferson, analysis by our colleague, Harold Brubaker, found.

What else did Harold find in the new tax reports that cover 2022?

Capital Health’s Al Maghazehe collected the second highest paycheck in 2022, making $5.25 million running a South Jersey-based system with two hospitals. And Bell from CHOP didn’t break records that year but still earned $3.7 million.

Also in the top five were University of Pennsylvania Health System CEO Kevin Mahoney and his counterpart Dennis Pullin at Virtua Health in South Jersey. Both made around $3 million.

Read more about how much the region’s health-system CEOs were compensated, and how payouts like Klasko’s compare to others in the region and nationally.

This week’s number: 18.

That’s the highest hourly minimum wage at Philadelphia-area health systems — or at least health systems that responded to our question.

We got curious about the minimum wage at health systems after we learned that ChristianaCare increased their hourly minimum wage to $16.50 last week. We wanted to see how that stacks up to other health systems in the region, so we asked.

Temple Health pays a minimum of $18 an hour, followed by Jefferson paying $17 an hour.

Penn Medicine, CHOP, Tower, Cooper, and a bunch of other systems either declined to respond or ignored our request.

Read more on the minimum wage that local health systems pay.

Each week, we highlight state inspections at hospitals in our region. Up this week: Jefferson Einstein Montgomery Hospital. Inspectors visited the hospital in East Norriton three times between November 2023 and April. Following a March inspection, the hospital was cited for failing to protect a patient admitted to the hospital multiple times from suspected abuse and neglect occurring at home.

Read more on the inspection report’s details and the other two visits.

What was the secret sauce in Ala Stanford’s 2020 effort to provide health-care services to Black Philadelphians amid the COVID-19 pandemic? Trust.

In a recent interview with The Inquirer, the newly appointed Penn professor outlined five steps that health systems, and providers themselves, can take to build trust with their patients.

“It takes a while to build trust — it’s not one touch, it’s multiple touches,” Stanford said.

Check out her five recommendations.

Every once in a while, we come across an award with a really cool name. And it doesn’t get much cooler than being anointed a “living legend.” That honor was recently bestowed on Julie Fairman, a professor at Penn Nursing, by the American Academy of Nursing. Fairman is one of five living legend honorees this year.

In other moves, James Helstrom is the new permanent chief medical officer at Temple Health-Chestnut Hill Hospital, a position he has held on an interim basis since February. He continues to be the CMO of the Fox Chase Cancer Center, which Temple owns.

A few weeks ago, we let you know that Temple Health and Keystone First, the region’s largest Medicaid provider, were at odds over reimbursements, and struggling to come to an agreement for a new two-year contract.

Well, the two sides finally shook on it — with days to spare. The last agreement was set to expire July 31, and Temple Health and Keystone announced they had reached a new two-year deal on July 26. According to Keystone, as part of the deal, the insurer has agreed to increase reimbursement rates.

Many Temple patients are likely breathing a sigh of relief — especially after Temple had to alert patients a few weeks ago that, if no deal was reached, Temple providers would no longer be in-network with Keystone First.

(PS: This was our new health-desk colleague Alison McCook’s first story in her new beat. We are excited to have her as part of the team and to share her work.)

📮 Seems to us that negotiations with insurers are getting down to the wire recently. Did you have to provide warnings about the specter of lapsed insurance to patients? For a chance to be featured in this newsletter, email us back.

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