On September 7, 2011, Lifespan announced that it has decided to cut its matching contribution to employees' 403(b) Fidelity plan for this year, and to completely eliminate its matching contribution for next year.

Lifespan's announcement is a slap in the face to all Lifespan employees.  Lifespan blamed the bad economy, but the fact is that Lifespan has made nearly $320 million in profits in the past six years - including $36.9 million last year - and is on track to make a profit again this year.  Furthermore, Lifespan corporate executives are making millions. 

In the past two years, Lifespan employees have made significant sacrifices to help their hospitals - accepting wage freezes, health insurance increases, and cuts to tuition assistance, vacation accumulation, service credits, and other benefits.

[Contact State officials to protest Lifespan putting profits before staff and patients.]

At the same time, Lifespan executives (whose ranks continue to grow) were receiving huge salaries, bonuses, and supplemental retirement plans.  According to IRS tax forms, Lifespan's nine highest-paid executives received a total of $9.4 million in total compensation last year, including nearly $3 million in supplemental retirement contributions that are only for executives. (Lifespan CEO, George Vecchione, has personally received a total of nearly $10 million dollars in supplemental retirement contributions.)

Below is shown the total compensation for the CEO of Lifespan and the CEO of RI Hospital / Miriam Hospital for October 1, 2009 through September 30, 2010.  Additional executive salary information is available on IRS 990 forms for Lifespan and RI Hospital.  

We urge all Lifespan employees to send a message to State officials telling them that:  

• not-for-profit hospitals should not be paying millions of dollars to their executives
• Lifespan's budget should not be balanced on the backs of its employees
• health care dollars should be spent on patient need, not corporate greed