It was a packed hearing room on June 3, when the Joint Committee on Health Care Financing held a public hearing at the State House on the Hospital Profit Transparency and Fairness Act (S623/H979), a measure filed by the MNA that would require hospitals to be transparent about their financial holdings―including millions of dollars stashed in offshore accounts. It would also limit and claw back excessive profits and exorbitant CEO compensation to ensure taxpayer dollars are dedicated exclusively to safe patient care and necessary services for all communities in the commonwealth. For those who couldn’t attend the hearing, check out the links below to view video of testimony provided by MNA members on various aspects of the law and the issues underpinning its creation.
Katie Murphy RN, Testimony The Hospital Profit Transparency and Fairness Act
MNA Board Member and Critical Care Nurse Katie Murphy, RN provided the committee with an overview of the bill and its various provisions.
Colleen LaFrance RN Testimony – The Hospital Profit Transparency and Fairness Act
Colleen LaFrance, RN, a nurse at North Adams Regional Hospital, points to the illegal closure of her hospital with just three days notice last year as a an example of why this law is necessary, and how this community hospital was the victim of an unbalanced and unfair health care system that places the unchecked concern for profits over the needs and concerns of patients and communities.
Paula Ryan, RN Testimony – Hospital Profit Transparency and Fairness Act
Linda Judd, RN, a nurse at Baystate Franklin Medical Center in Greenfield provided testimony about her community’s struggle to maintain services for this rural community, while Baystate paid its CEO multimillion dollars in compensation, including several thousand dollars in a travel allowance for the CEO’s wife.
Linda Judd, RN Testimony – The Hospital Profit Transparency and Fairness Act
Linda Judd, RN, a nurse at Baystate Franklin Medical Center in Greenfield provided testimony about her community’s struggle to maintain services for this rural community, while Baystate paid its CEO multimillion dollars in compensation, including several thousand dollars in a travel allowance for the CEO’s wife.
Susan Wright Thomas, RN Testimony – The Hospital Profit Transparency and Fairness Act
Susan Wright Thomas, RN testified to the struggle by her community to prevent the closure of its nationally renowned child psychiatric unit, and the loss last year of its dedicated psychiatric emergency department, two services that respond to a growing mental health crisis in our state, all because this hospital serves a poorer population of patients, while other nearby hospital corporations make millions in profits caring for more well off, better insured patients.
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