Mount Sinai Health System in New York said its senior executives will take a 50% pay cut during the COVID-19 emergency so the system can shift millions of dollars to its pandemic response.
In all, 14 executives have agreed to donate half their salary during the crisis, as the eight-hospital system faces an unprecedented surge in patients. A spokeswoman for Mount Sinai declined to provide the total amount of money that would be contributed.
Dr. Kenneth Davis, Mount Sinai's CEO, earned $5.6 million in cash compensation in 2018, making him the sixth-highest-paid hospital executive that year, according to the Crain's New York Business list of the highest-paid hospital leaders—which uses the most recent data available. Mount Sinai declined to share how much Davis is earning this year.
"While this does not come close to closing the hundreds of millions of dollars being lost per month, Dr. Kenneth Davis and his executive leadership team at the Mount Sinai Health System have offered and agreed to take a 50% pay cut for as long as necessary so that these dollars can be directed to our front lines in this fight," the spokeswoman said.
Based on the pay packages of 14 top Mount Sinai executives in 2018, Crain's New York Business estimates that the leaders would collectively donate at least $1 million per month during the emergency. Mount Sinai did not respond to questions about the accuracy of the estimate.
The Mount Sinai spokeswoman could not say how the executives would determine when the period during which they make their donation would end. She said she could not answer questions about whether the arrangement would affect the executives' benefit packages or whether they might receive some of the pay through deferred compensation.
Mount Sinai operates eight hospitals in Manhattan, Brooklyn and Queens, including its flagship facility on Fifth Avenue at East 103rd Street. A temporary, 68-bed medical facility has been set up in Central Park near Mount Sinai Hospital through a partnership with the nonprofit Samaritan's Purse to handle the surge in patients being treated at local hospitals.
Members of the New York State Nurses Association held a protest Friday morning outside Mount Sinai Hospital to raise concerns that they don't have adequate safety gear to protect themselves from getting sick while treating patients.
The union also has taken issue with Davis for directing the health system's response from Florida, where the 72-year-old executive has been advised to stay by his doctor. Davis told the New York Post that he has been fully engaged with the health system's response to COVID-19.
The health system said Davis wasn't available for an interview.
The leaders of New York's largest nonprofit health systems, which are all multibillion-dollar organizations, command large pay packages. The latest Crain's New York Business ranking of the 25 highest-paid hospital executives showed that each earned at least $2.4 million in 2018.
This story first appeared in our sister publication, Crain's New York Business.
