Sam Hazen will donate 100% of his pay in April and May to the HCA Healthcare Hope Fund; senior leadership will be taking a 30% pay cut "until the pandemic passes."
In a message to all HCA Healthcare colleagues, CEO Sam Hazen announced initiatives to financially support employees across the healthcare organization's 21-state network of 184 hospitals and 2,000 sites of care due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
"When we started our planning to respond to this massive public health emergency, we did it with the goal of protecting our employees and protecting our physicians so that we could best serve our patients," Hazen said. "So far, we have achieved that goal, and now we will continue to support you with our pandemic pay continuation programs."
Numerous HCA outpatient facilities, clinics, and departments have closed in the past few weeks due to a drop in patient volume, causing the organization to redeploy staff where needed to "keep team members working," Hazen said. HCA's pay program will assist full- and part-time staff in clinical and non-clinical support services who cannot be redeployed to other facilities. They will be eligible for 70% of their base pay for up to seven weeks (through May 16).
A similar plan will be implemented for office staff in HCA's division and corporate offices.
Staff members who work in patient care facilities and have to be quarantined will receive their full base pay for scheduled hours. Staff who don't work in patient care facilities and fall ill may be eligible for short-term disability or leave of absence.
The HCA Healthcare senior leadership team is taking a 30% pay cut "until the pandemic passes" in order to support the pay programs, according to Hazen.
Hazen said, "I will also donate 100 percent of my pay in April and May to the HCA Hope Fund, and believe other senior leaders will make significant contributions to it also."
Related: HCA CEO Samuel Hazen Received $27M in Total Compensation
The HCA Healthcare Hope Fund is a public 501(c)3 charity that's employee-run and employee-supported "to help HCA Healthcare employees and their immediate families who are affected by financial hardship."
The Board of Directors decided to waive "their cash compensation for the remainder of the year allowing the company to make an additional contribution to the HCA Hope Fund."
Melanie Blackman is a contributing editor for strategy, marketing, and human resources at HealthLeaders, an HCPro brand.
Photo credit: SAINT PETERSBURG, RUSSIA - JUNE 25, 2019: HCA Healthcare Company logo on the smartphone screen. / Editorial credit: Trismegist san / Shutterstock.com