TORONTO - Chief executive officers at Ontario hospitals will soon see their salaries tied to performance targets that result in better outcomes for patients, but critics said Monday the Liberal government blew a chance to lower those lucrative pay packages.
Health Minister Deb Matthews has herself expressed concerns about the high salaries paid to hospital CEOs, many of whom make over $500,000 or even $750,000 a year, but even she admitted new legislation introduced Monday won't really tackle the problem.
The bill will take a portion of a hospital CEOs' current salary and tie that to improved patient outcomes, Matthews told reporters.
"It's not a piece of legislation that's designed to bring down compensation levels for hospital CEOs," she said.
"I think that's an important conversation we need to have, (but) this bill is about tying a portion of their compensation to achieving those quality improvements."
The new legislation will ensure there is a connection between the quality of the services delivered to patients and the pay level of hospital executives, said Premier Dalton McGuinty.
"Right now there is no such connection, and we think we need to do more to put the patient first," McGuinty told reporters.
"We want to draw a direct line between the quality of the services that a patient is receiving in a particular hospital and the pay being received by the executive in that hospital."
The Ontario Health Coalition, a patients' advocacy group, complained there was nothing in the legislation to control the salaries of hospital CEOs, even though they make up to 25 times the salary of the average worker.
The bill also does nothing to improve access to care, which is a big concern as hospitals slash services such as physiotherapy and laboratories, said coalition spokeswoman Natalie Mehra.
"The government talks a lot about improving access, but has more than happily helped to sidetrack the public into talking about CEO performance," said Mehra.
"But what really counts here is the provincial government's performance in delivery health care to people. The health system doesn't exist to measure itself; it exists to provide health care to Ontarians and this act doesn't improve that so it is disconcerting."
The Ontario Hospital Association said about 30 per cent of the 156 hospitals already have a pay-for-performance clause in their CEO's compensation package, and noted the median salary for a hospital CEO is $241,000.
"You can see that the larger number of hospital (CEOs) make a much more modest amount than some of the CEOs of very, very large academic teaching centres, which have much different mandates and scope of responsibilities," said OHA spokesman Anthony Dale.
NDP Leader Andrea Horwath said the government failed in its duty to cap the pay for hospital executives.
"The minister can't on the one hand say that she's concerned about this and on the other hand bring in legislation that does nothing at all to reduce those salaries or to stop them from spiralling out of control," said Horwath.
The Progressive Conservatives said the Liberals were not increasing accountability at hospitals as claimed and had done nothing to control soaring salaries of hospital executives.
"This is too little too late from the McGuinty government," said Opposition Leader Tim Hudak.
The bill introduced by Matthews will also require hospitals to create quality committees and annual quality improvement plans. There will also be a new patient complaints process and new satisfaction surveys of both patients and hospital employees.
The government said it will move to what it calls a patient-based payments system of hospital funding, based on the types and volumes of patients hospitals treat.
However, Matthews rejected an NDP call to give the Ombudsman the power to investigate the province's hospitals.
"We took a big step when we gave the auditor general the right to look at hospital spending to make sure we get the best value for money," said Matthews.
