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Nonprofits fill pockets

Tampa Bay's nonprofit hospitals provide millions of dollars in charity care to the poor each year. But they still do pretty well for themselves.

By Kris Hundley, Times Staff Writer
Published March 4, 2007

Nonprofit hospitals are like the homeless of the health care industry: constantly on the prowl for donations of both money and time.

But don't mistake their perennial poor-mouthing for poverty. Most Tampa Bay area nonprofit hospitals are doing quite well and their chief executives are doing even better.

Though inpatient admissions have been relatively flat, the savviest nonprofits are taking more outpatient business from their for-profit competitors. Big networks like BayCare Health Care System, with seven hospitals, pushed annual revenue to nearly $2-billion last year by making money on everything from home care to doctors' practices.

Add in hospitals' better-than-average returns on stock investments and many area nonprofits feel flush. BayCare is building a new $200-million hospital in north Hillsborough County; All Children's is replacing its St. Petersburg facility with a $300-million-plus complex; even Bayfront Medical Center, which expects an operating loss for 2006, is consolidating its cardiac care in a new building across from its St. Petersburg campus.

Nonprofit hospital executives say they must make money so they can provide millions of dollars in charity care as well as constantly upgrade their operations. "In a typical year, we'll spend $30- to $35-million just on new equipment and capital improvements," said Arnold Stenberg, All Children's chief financial officer.

They also fear that their biggest source of revenue - state and federal governments - could slash budgets, as they did in the late 1990s.

"2006 was a very good year," said Tommy Inzina, chief financial officer for BayCare, which went from break-even in 1997 to an operating margin of 5.2 percent last year. "But if Medicare and Medicaid funding were to change, that could have a major impact on our finances."

Kris Hundley can be reached at hundley@sptimes.com or 727892-2996.

CEO with the biggest paycheck

Phil Beauchamp, Morton Plant Mease Health Care: $3.8-million (Includes one-time payouts from retirement and deferred compensa- tion plans on base salary of $535,000.)

Nonprofits with the biggest nest eggs

(net assets)

St. Joseph's Hospital, Tampa: $429.2-million

Morton Plant Hospital Association, Clearwater: $424.4-million *

* Includes Morton Plant and North Bay hospitals

Nonprofit hospital with the highest revenue

Tampa General, Tampa: $673.8-million

Highest margins

All Children's, St. Petersburg: 10.8 percent

South Florida Baptist, Plant City: 10.4 percent

Lowest margin

University Community Hospital, Tampa: 2.2 percent

In the red in 2006

Bayfront Medical Center, St. Petersburg; St. Anthony's, St. Petersburg; Helen Ellis, Tarpon Springs; Sun Coast, Largo

Source: Hospitals' IRS Form 990s for fiscal year 2005. Does not include assets of hospital foundations, which file separately.

How nonprofit hospitals set executive pay

Hospital boards set executive pay based on comparable salaries for executives at similar-sized facilities. A recent Johns Hopkins University study found that non-profit hospitals pay 7 percent more than for-profit hospitals.

University Community Hospital in Tampa said its board hires an outside consultant to compare its executive's salary to his peers nationwide. The board also says the chief executive does not take part in salary discussions. However, UCH refused to make public either the comparable salary study or board minutes involving salary determinations, saying both were confidential.

BayCare Health System released its 2006 executive market survey that included data from three consulting firms on pay ranges for executives at similar-sized hospital systems. Chief executive Steve Mason's 2006 total compensation package of just over $1-million was between the 50th and 75th percentile range of nationwide positions.

Though hospitals report what they pay their chief executives, that may not be the whole picture. It was recently disclosed that Sue Brody, chief executive of Bayfront Medical Center in St. Petersburg, had been paid $20,00 to $25,000 a year for her membership in a group funded by several hospital vendors, including major pharmaceutical companies. That was in addition to Brody's compensation package at Bayfront, which totaled nearly $680,000 in 2005.

CEO compensation packages

Phil Beauchamp, Morton Plant Mease Health Care $3.8-million (includes distribution from retirement and deferred compensation plans on base salary of $535,000)

Isaac Mallah, St. Joseph Health Care Center $3.1-million (includes final distribution from deferred compensation plan on base salary of $569,863)

Norman Stein, University Community Hospital, $956,384

Steve Mason, BayCare Health System, $1.2-million

Gary Carnes, All Children's Hospital, $1.2-million

Dr. William Dalton, H. Lee Moffitt Cancer Center, $1-million

Ron Hytoff, Tampa General Hospital, $862,975

Calvin Glidewell, University Community Medical Center (now CEO, UHC Carrollwood), $572,703

Sue Brody, Bayfront Medical Center, $679,918

Ford Kyes, St. Anthony's (no longer CEO), $493,979

Larry Archbell, Sun Coast Hospital, $352,751

Scott Pittman, Florida Hospital Zephyrhills, $358,271

Steven MacLauchlan, Helen Ellis (no longer CEO), $286,701

William Ulbricht, South Florida Baptist, $268,343

Don Evans, UCH-Carrollwood (now CEO Helen Ellis), $236,116

Brigitte Shaw, UCH-Heart, $225,127

More numbers

- Nonprofit with biggest surplus at year-end: St. Joseph's Hospital, Tampa: $53.3-million

- Nonprofits' spending on lobbying: H. Lee Moffitt Cancer Center and Research Institute, Tampa: $457,662 Tampa General Hospital: Tampa: $258,974 All Children's, St. Petersburg, $156,138

- Amount Tampa General Hospital spent on organ procurement: $13.5-million (Lifelink of Florida)

Bed counts at the hospitals

St. Joseph's: 883 beds

Tampa General: 877

Morton Plant: 687

Bayfront: 502

University Community Hospital: 431

St. Anthony's: 395

All Children's: 216

Mease Countryside: 205

Sun Coast: 200

Mease Dunedin: 173

Helen Ellis: 168

Moffitt: 162

Florida Hospital Zephyrhills: 154

South Florida Baptist: 147

North Bay: 122

UCH-Carrollwood: 120

Source: Hospital filings

How to learn about a nonprofit's finances

Nonprofit organizations are required to file their financial statements annually with the Internal Revenue Service on a Form 990. These documents must also be made available to the public for either inspection or copies, though the organization may charge copying costs. The filings are often made several months after the close of the fiscal year, so the information may be dated.

[Last modified March 8, 2007, 15:53:32]