Health-care's big moneyman in New England . . .

.

. . is none other than Lifespan CEO George Vecchione, who has earned almost $3 million in compensation in each of the last two years. Steven Stycos has the details in this week's Phoenix:

Vecchione collects almost $1 million more each year than his closet competitor, the CEO at Partners HealthCare System in Boston, although Lifespan is much smaller than Partners and the region's second-largest network, Caritas Christi Health Care, also in Boston.

A Phoenix survey of federal tax returns indicates that one other Rhode Island health-care CEO, John Hynes of Care New England Health System, received more than $1 million in compensation in 2007. Two Lifespan executives, Kathleen Hittner, CEO of the Miriam Hospital, and former Rhode Island Hospital CEO Joseph Amaral, received more than $1 million in compensation in 2006. Lifespan officials say this was a one-year anomaly caused by changes in federal reporting requirements.

According to a survey by Modern Healthcare magazine, most Rhode Island hospital CEOs are paid more than the national average for comparably sized institutions. CEOs at several of Rhode Island's smaller and financially weaker hospitals, South County and Westerly hospitals and Roger Williams Medical Center, are exceptions. In addition, raises for Rhode Island health-care CEOs far exceed the inflation rate. Since 2000, compensation for the 10 CEOs who stayed in their jobs increased by an average of 87 percent, while the consumer price index climbed only 20 percent.

"Most employees, and probably most Rhode Islanders, would be appalled to know executives of our nonprofit hospitals are being paid these kinds of salaries," says Rick Brooks, director of United Nurses and Allied Professionals, "particularly when health-care costs are going up [at] twice the rate of inflation and causing the number of uninsured Rhode Islanders to go up dramatically."

Some of these executives run hospitals and some hospital networks, but they all help make up the infrastructure of health-care in New England.

The lucrative executive compensation packages also raise questions about the management of Rhode Island's nonprofit hospitals as they struggle to fend off Governor Donald L. Carcieri's proposal to cut state reimbursement to hospitals, by almost $32 million, to help balance the state budget. At a House Finance Committee hearing in January, South County Hospital CEO Louis Giancola, Rhode Island's lowest-paid hospital CEO, predicted the cut in funds to cover the uninsured "is going to destroy us," the Providence Journal reported.

Here's a closer look at how various CEOs compare in compensation:

NETWORKS WITH NET REVENUE OVER $1 BILLION
George Vecchione, CEO, Lifespan (Providence) > $2,956,152
James Mongan, CEO, Partners (Boston) > $2,018,877
Marna Borgstom, CEO, The Yale New Haven Health System (New Haven) > $1,798.621
John Meehan, CEO, Hartford HealthCare Corporation (Hartford) > $1,220,795
John Chessare, Interim President, Caritas Christi (Brighton) > $859,775
John Szum, Chief Financial Officer CareGroup (Boston) > $548,995

NETWORKS WITH NET REVENUE UNDER $1 BILLION
John Hynes, CEO, Care New England (Providence) > $1.397,626
Mark Tolosky, CEO, Baystate Health (Springfield) > $1,557, 623
Ronald Goodspeed, President, Southcoast Hospitals (New Bedford) > $805,790

NETWORK HOSPITAL WITH NET REVENUE OVER $200 MILLION
Joseph Amaral, CEO, The Rhode Island Hospital > $833,253
Constance Howes, CEO, Women & Infants Hospital > $927,002
Kathleen Hittner, CEO, The Miriam Hospital > $722,206
Mark Crevier, CEO, Kent Memorial Hospital > $627,746

NETWORK HOSPITAL WITH NET REVENUE UNDER $200 MILLION
Patricia Recupero, CEO, Butler Hospital > $717, 827
Arthur Sampson, CEO, Newport Health Care Corporation > $473,289
Daniel Wall, CEO, Bradley Hospital > $438,242

FREESTANDING HOSPITAL WITH NET REVENUE UNDER $200 MILLION
Francis Dietz , CEO Memorial Hospital > $720,839
Gary Gaube, CEO, Landmark Medical Center > $706,245
John Keimig, CEO, St. Joseph Health System of RI > $449,228
Richard Charest, President, Rehabilitation Hospital of RI > $473,354
Kenneth Belcher, CEO, Roger Williams Medical Center > $407,645
Charles Kinney, CEO, Westerly Hospital > $291,397
Louis Giancola, CEO, South County Hospital Healthcare > $281,440

Totals are a combination of compensation, benefits and expenses. These figures are different from those calculated by Modern Healthcare because the magazine uses only compensation (salary and bonuses) and excludes benefits and expenses.

Source: 2007 federal income tax returns.