PLATTSBURGH — Salaries of key administrators and employees in area hospital were available Tuesday, as part of a new federal law that makes the information more accessible to the public.

HOSPITAL SALARIES

Top salaries, using latest figures• provided by each hospital, along with information on number of employees and beds and the hospital budget:

Adirondack Medical Center in Saranac Lake and Lake Placid (1997 figures)

Michael P.M. Pond, Emergency Department medical director, $211,918

Woods McCahill Jr., health centers' medical director, $156,654

Shawn Pertunen, health center physician, $137,964

Joel H. Stretch, Emergency Department physician assistant, $133,409

Ro F.C. Parker, Emergency Department physician assistant, $115,178

Number of employees: 456 full-time equivalents (600, including part-time and per diem)

Number of beds: 100

Amount of operating budget: $36,992,000

Alice Hyde Hospital in Malone (1998 figures)

Dr. Henk Goorhuis, Emergency Department medical director, $143,887

John W. Johnson, president/CEO, $99,694

Patrick M. Johnston, Emergency Department physician assistant, $70,855

Roger J. Soricelli, vice president of administration, $69,633

Richard P. Finch, Emergency Department physician assistant, $69,077

Number of employees: 520, includes full-time, part-time and per diem

Number of beds: 153 (78 hospital beds, 75 for Alice Hyde Nursing Home)

Amount of operating budget for 1999: $29,241,918

CVPH Medical Center in Plattsburgh (1997 figures)

Kevin Carroll, president: $272,306

Daniel J. Anhalt, emergency room doctor: $217,950

Martin A. Davidson, medical lab director: $211,603

Richard Frost, medical director: $195,640

William Strimel Jr., pathologist: $192,548

Russell W. Hartung, Emergency Medical Services director, $188,397

Deonarayan P. Saha, pathologist, $185,182

Charles Gijanto, chief financial officer, $144,544

Number of employees: 1,600

Number of beds: 410

Amount of operating budget for 1998: $98 million

Elizabethtown Community Hospital in Elizabethtown (1997 figures)

Douglas Cushing, administrator: $46,780

Number of employees: unavailable

Number of beds: 25

Amount of operating budget for 1997: total revenue, $4,970,906; total expenses, $4,827,443; end-of-year fund balance, $1,382,567.

Moses-Ludington Hospital in Ticonderoga (1997 figures)

Jael Morton, doctor, $67,905

Nelson Walts, physician's assistant, $58,476

Daniel Padula, physician's assistant, $54,630

Kim Vilardo, physical therapist, $51,339

Terry Conners, physician's assistant, $50,864

Diane M. Hart (former CEO): $43,547

Andrew Britt, (former chief financial officer): $42,912

Number of employees: 100

Number of beds: 15

Amount of operating budget for 1997: $7.139 million

• Although hospitals have until Aug. 15 to file 1998 figures with the Internal Revenue Service, Alice Hyde Hospital provided those figures. Other hospitals gave 1997 figures, the latest that were be filed with the IRS Kevin Carroll, president of CVPH Medical Center since 1984, had the top area salary, as expected, at $272,306 for 1997, the latest year that figures were available.

Under Public Disclosure of Material Relating to Tax-Exempt Organizations, copies of much of the information from the hospitals' Form 990, including the salaries, are now accessible to the public upon request at the facilities.

CVPH Board of Directors Chairwoman Janet Duprey said she and the board members think Carroll's salary is a non-issue because they are satisfied with job performance.

"Kevin Carroll is paid the going rate for qualified capable chief executive officers of medical centers similar in size to CVPH," Duprey said.

"He is evaluated annually by each board member, and (Carroll's) overall rating is very good."

On a yearly basis, the board looks at data from comparable facilities throughout the state and country, she said.

"There are no comparable positions in the local region," Duprey said.

Since Carroll became president, she noted, the number of employees and physicians has grown by more than 50 percent, and many new or improved services were added.

"Speaking on behalf of the Board of Directors, we believe, based upon performance, that (Carroll) has been and continues to be a sound investment," Duprey said.



Other hospitals

At Alice Hyde Hospital in Malone, President and CEO John W. Johnson is paid $99,694.

The administrator of Elizabethtown Community Hospital, Douglas Cushing, makes $46,780.

The salaries of two administrators — at Adirondack Medical Center and Moses-Ludington Hospital — were not available.

The salary of Chandler Ralph, president and chief operating officer, does not have to be released because she is an employee of Brim Healthcare Inc., the company that manages the hospital. Private companies are not covered under the new disclosure law.

"We contract with (Brim) to provide management to the hospital, including the position of president and CEO," said Cheryl Breen, public-relations director.

The hospital declined to voluntarily give her salary.

Because Moses-Ludington Hospital CEO Mark Kubricky was hired in 1998, his salary was not available. Those figures don't have to be filed with the IRS until Aug. 15, and the hospital would not voluntarily provide the figure to the Press-Republican.

Kubricky is paid by both the hospital and Moses-Ludington Nursing Home.

Former CEO Diane M. Hart earned $43,547 in 1997; former Chief Financial Officer Andrew Britt earned $42,912.

New York State Nurses Association representative Sandy Guynup, who represents the nurses at eight North Country hospitals, said she feels the salaries of area administrators are justifiable.

"I think, for the most part, they earn their salary, especially in this day and age with all the changes in reimbursement.

"Medicine has become a complex issue. It takes a great deal of work and ingenuity to run a hospital."



Quality care

Hospital officials said pay is linked to quality workers.

Ralph said the highest-paid workers of the hospital, employed under contract with AMC, are "the most competent individuals available.

"Adirondack Medical Center prides itself in the quality of health care it provides," she said.

Recruiting efforts "have been and continue to be successful as we offer health-care professionals an excellent setting in which to practice, co-workers of the same excellent caliber and a fair and competitive salary," Ralph said in a statement.

"The hospital's salary structure is determined and updated by continually surveying wages on a regional, state and national level in order to attract the most highly qualified providers to serve this community."

Some of the highest-paid positions at AMC during the 1997 tax year are no longer in the top ranking because of renegotiated contracts for the year 1999.

Because of the small size of the Moses-Ludington Hospital staff, several of the top-paid positions are not administrators or even salaried personnel, but longtime, hourly paid employees.

CEO Mark Kubricky was concerned that they were thus unfairly included in the disclosure pool.

—, Staff Writers Dee Brown and Lohr McKinstry helped with research for this story.