Nonprofit hospitals targeted on leader pay

Senator Charles Grassley of Iowa, the top Republican on the Senate Finance Committee, is scrutinizing leaders of nonprofit hospitals. Nonprofit hospital presidents earned nearly $500,000 a year on average in salary and other benefits, according to a recent IRS survey of 485 hospitals, and a smaller group more closely reviewed by the IRS had an average salary of $1.4 million. Grassley said that he is concerned that such salaries may be too high and that the hospitals' boards of directors are not taking full responsibility for approving them. Grassley said he hopes to introduce legislation that would put more pressure on boards to keep salaries in check.