As the industry shifts toward more transparent and accountable healthcare, hospitals should take note of Lake of the Woods District Hospital for motivation. The Ontario, Canada-based hospital posts executive travel expenses on its website, and as a result, has the second lowest travel expenditures in the area, reports the Daily Miner and News.
Its hospital execs and board spent $9,729 and $1,593 on travel last year, respectively. Hospital President Mark Balcaen spent $3,308 while regional CEOs averaged $6,485.
"We're very comfortable with transparency and have no problem with displaying our expense accounts to the public," Balcaen told the Daily Miner and News. "We're a very frugal lot and make every human attempt possible to do meetings and provide services using Telehealth and teleconferencing whenever possible," he noted.
However, public reporting can't guarantee lower expenses; factors such as location and accessibility can influence how much a hospital spends. For example, the executives of Meno Ya Win Hospital spent $31,712.45 to travel, with CEO David Murray outspending the other hospitals' combined expenses at a whopping $19,495.
That's because the hospital covers an area as big as Germany that lacks roadways, leaving planes as main transportation for board members and execs, notes the Daily Miner and News.
Such spending transparency may have helped U.S. healthcare leaders keep their capital budgets for 2011 flat or increased compared with last year.
To learn more:
- read the Daily Miner and News article