What does this mean ? !
[ It is double speak, fast-talk when one is trapped ! ]
John Daley says :
“Well I’m just learning about it. As you know it would be unusual for the board. If we were doing it, that would not have occurred,” Commissioner John Daley said.
Daley says he can’t recall any county employee ever receiving severance pay.
“In this day and age, if that would be the usual, customary in other institutions. It might have been prior to this economy. But at this time, I would find it questionable,” Daley said.
WHAT DID THAT MEAN?
————————————————————–
o b f u s c a t i o n
____________________________________________________
Salaries Rising for Top at County Health System
By Dane Placko, FOX Chicago News
Chicago – It was hailed as a major victory for reform in Cook County, the independent board that took over the county’s health and hospital system, bringing in major savings for taxpayers. But FOX Chicago News found one area where spending is not going down: top salaries and bonuses.
It is the last, best hope for thousands of Cook County residents. The county’s health and hospital system provides a safety net for people who are poor or can’t afford health insurance.
But the top administrators who run the massive health system are now getting a different kind of safety net of their own, one that has some Cook County commissioners reaching for the aspirin.
“I think it’s a bad precedent to start,” said Commissioner Peter Silvestri.
Peter Silvestri is among several Cook County commissioners questioning a severance package given to David Small, who worked for the health system for less than two years as chief operating officer and then interim CEO.
When Small left Cook County last year for a job in Florida, he received a severance check for more than $68,000, about a quarter of his annual salary. plus another $63,000 in performance bonuses.
“A $68,000 severance package pays for another nurse or another sheriff’s deputy, or whatever,” Silvestri said.
“Well I’m just learning about it. As you know it would be unusual for the board. If we were doing it, that would not have occurred,” Commissioner John Daley said.
Daley says he can’t recall any county employee ever receiving severance pay.
“In this day and age, if that would be the usual, customary in other institutions. It might have been prior to this economy. But at this time, I would find it questionable,” Daley said.
Warren Batts is chairman of the new independent county health system created by county commissioners two years ago in a tradeoff for the penny sales tax increase.
The goal was to strip control of the county hospitals and all the jobs and contracts from Board President Todd Stroger.
Batts says it’s a new era, and to get the best and brightest healthcare administrators, you have to pay competitive wages, bonuses and severance.
“We’re not trying to give money away. We’re trying to get the very best people here to operate this system as we possibly can,” Batts said.
Indeed salaries for top administrators have risen dramatically under the independent board.
CEO William Foley is making $500,000 a year, compared to the $310,000 former CEO Robert Simon was making when the independent board took over in 2008.
When the $127,000 head of ambulatory services was fired last year, she was replaced by a consultant making $389,000.
“We’re still a very low-paying operation here compared to other public hospitals across the country, and terribly low compared to other hospitals in the Chicago area,” Batts said.
The Metropolitan Chicago Healthcare Council says the average total compensation for a hospital CEO is $907,000, nearly twice what Foley is making.
Nevertheless, some Cook County health system employees say the higher pay and bonuses hasn’t translated into better care.
“What we’ve seen since the independent board came in is another layer of management making a lot of money,” said Regena Ellis, Stroger Hospital Clinical Nurse.
Stroger Hospital’s unionized nurses say they’ve lost 80 positions and haven’t had a raise in two years.
“We’ve seen numerous people hired on the administrative side, but none hired who work directly with the patients at the bedside,” Ellis said.
The salaries, bonuses and severance could become an issue when the county board decides whether to retake control of the health and hospital system next year.
“I understand the hospital is not the same as running some other government operation, but there still should be some justification for the large increases in salary. And I’m not alone in this. I think commissioners who were both for the independent board and against it are concerned about it,” Silvestri said.
Cook County Commissioner Jerry Butler, who also sits on the independent board, says he signed off on the raises and severance because sometimes you just have to sweeten the deal to get the best people for the job.
