The state Senate is considering putting a cap on how much nonprofit hospital CEOs can be paid, part of a broader healthcare bill that passed a committee on Tuesday.
Sen. Jim Burgin, R-Harnett, says hospital leaders should have their pay capped at a level based on their lowest-paid employee.
"That means if a hospital's lowest-paid full-time employee makes $35,000 a year, the hospital CEO's compensation will be capped at 400 times that amount, or $14 million annually," Burgin told the Senate Judiciary Committee.
Most North Carolina hospital CEOs make far less than that amount; WakeMed CEO Donald Gintzig, for example, received about $2 million in compensation in 2024. But NC Health News reported last year that Atrium Health's parent company pays its CEO nearly $26 million.
Burgin has deleted another provision from the bill that would create a review process for hospital mergers, citing the pending agreement between WakeMed and Atrium.
"With the current things that are going on in Wake County, that part has been removed right now," Burgin said. "I do think we need to revisit that, and we'll be bringing that up at a later date."
The bill would also ban hospitals from putting non-compete language in employment contracts. Those provisions in contracts prevent doctors and other healthcare workers from taking jobs with other employers in the same area.
Burgin says the result is that "doctors tried to leave, they enforce the non-competes, and they have to move completely out of the region."
Could State Health Plan enter hospital business?
The bill also includes an exemption for the state treasurer from healthcare facility regulations known as Certificate of Need, which require healthcare companies to seek approval from state regulators before adding new hospitals and facilities.
Burgin says that could help the treasurer buy a hospital — or a stake in one — to reduce State Health Plan costs. "This would allow them to do joint ventures with someone, perhaps even purchase a hospital or anything they wanted to do to try to help control healthcare costs," he said. "It's almost impossible to get true transparent pricing. And I think this would give him the opportunity, if he so desired, to be able to explore that."
State Treasurer Brad Briner told WUNC News in an emailed statement that he supports the legislation but has no hospital acquisition plans in the works.
"As everyone knows, the State Health Plan continues to struggle with keeping healthcare costs affordable," he said. "We are making no plans to, nor having any conversations about, buying a hospital. But this is another tool that could provide us with some relief to help keep healthcare costs from spiraling further out of control."
After passing the Senate Judiciary Committee on Tuesday, Senate Bill 978 now goes to the Senate Appropriations Committee — meaning it could become part of the budget bill.
