Since last winter, when it was ranked in the top 3% of children’s hospitals in the country, Valley Children’s Hospital in Madera has had many more opportunities to recognize a valued facility that protects the health of our youngest residents.

In December, Valley Children’s was one of only eight children’s hospitals recognized by the Leapfrog Group for its achievements in patient safety and quality of care.

The hospital, the largest children’s hospital in the valley and the 16th largest in the country, had other reasons to celebrate its success:

Opinion

▪ Last month, the International World Ag Expo presented a check for $101,457.32 to Valley Children’s Healthcare from a pickup truck raffle. Since 2015, such raffles have raised more than $730,000.

▪ In May, Valley Children’s Hospital became the first hospital in California—and only the second in the country—to receive the prestigious Sustainable Healthcare certification from The Joint Commission for its efforts to reduce its carbon footprint and combat climate change.

▪ In May, the hospital also received a $15 million donation to develop an advanced bone cell therapy program for pediatric cancer. Children in need of breakthrough cancer therapy will no longer be sent to Los Angeles or the Bay Area.

▪ Last month, the hospital’s precision medicine program announced it was the first team in the country to use a revolutionary genetic test that can quickly tell a doctor whether a patient is at higher risk of hearing damage from a particular antibiotic (aminoglycoside). The doctor can then choose a different treatment for the infection.

But these bright spots continue to be overshadowed by a dark cloud, namely the conspicuously high compensation of hospital CEO Todd Suntrapak (nearly $5.2 million in fiscal year 2021-22).

Suntrapak is not the only hospital executive enjoying generous paychecks. His salary and that of 22 other senior vice presidents and vice presidents totaled more than $25.3 million this year, Fresno Bee reporter Tim Sheehan reported.

To date, Suntrapak has not disclosed his salary or that of other highly paid executives. In the fiscal year ended September 30, 2022, Suntrapak and five other Valley Children’s executives received total compensation of more than $1 million.

In an interview with ABC 30 last month, Suntrapak said he has no say in his salary and instead relies on the board to determine his pay. “I don’t determine what my compensation is. Our board determines what the appropriate compensation is for the CEO and relies on outside experts to advise them and do a whole lot of analysis, and then they make a decision,” Suntrapak said in that June interview.

That’s an inadequate answer. As a nonprofit, the nonprofit must list its highest-paid employees on a tax form that is ultimately available to the public. As recently as March, 2021-22 tax filings revealed the exorbitant salaries of hospital executives like Suntrapak.

Subsequent reporting by Erik Galicia and Sheehan of the Fresno Bee found that the hospital reinvested the least amount in its region (just 2% of its total spending on charitable purposes, while the next lowest hospitals reported 6% and 23%, respectively). The hospital has more than $2 billion in assets, mostly in savings, investments, land, buildings and equipment, and plans to develop at least 40 acres of land for commercial use.

The public has supported Valley Children’s Hospital on a large scale since its founding in 1952, as evidenced by the popularity of newspaper sales on Kids Day and business campaigns that encourage customers to round up their bill and send the extra donation to the hospital.

But that image is now tarnished because executive salaries dwarf those of other hospitals in the region, in a region where more than 70 percent of children are covered by or eligible for Medi-Cal, the government’s health insurance program for low-income people.

It is time for Suntrapak and the hospital to fully explain and justify these high salaries.

Valley Children’s board paid its CEO according to a national salary scale. That’s extreme | Opinion