Ad is released as hospital CEOs gather for three days of golf, fine dining and networking at the luxurious Chatham Bars Inn on Cape Cod

BOSTON, June 11, 2014 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ — The following is being released by Massachusetts Nurses Association/National Nurses United:

A radio ad was launched today highlighting spendthrift Massachusetts hospital CEOs stashing millions in offshore accounts and creating excessive compensation packages for themselves.

The release of the ad is timed to coincide with a gathering of hospital CEOs for three days of golf, lavish receptions and networking at one of the state’s most luxurious resorts on the Cape.

While mentioning that many ‘non-profit’ hospitals actually have significant profit margins, the ad focuses on the need for greater transparency in hospital finances and specifically on how hospitals spend the millions of taxpayer dollars they receive annually. It highlights how many hospitals post massive profits, while smaller community hospitals serving poorer communities struggle to survive.

The ad calls for passage of the Hospital Profit Transparency and Fairness Act (H3844). The transparency act requires that hospitals receiving tax dollars (via Medicaid, Medicare and other government sources), 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. To ensure access to needed services by all patients, the act also provides for enhanced funding options for hospitals serving poorer populations. If the legislature does not pass H3844 by July 2, the measure will appear as a ballot question this November.

The radio ad closes with the admonition to “Make sure that CEOs put patients ahead of profits.”

To listen to the ad, go to http://youtu.be/iWUiOd1Je3s.

The ad was sponsored by the Committee for Transparency and Fairness in the Use of Taxpayer Funds by Hospitals.

For more information visit: www.HospitalTransparencyAct.com.

Founded in 1903, the Massachusetts Nurses Association/National Nurses United 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 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.