Nursing pay (or lack thereof) is a hot topic of conversation, and rightfully so. Meanwhile, hospital executive salaries continue to skyrocket.
In a recent study, 84% of nurses surveyed reported that they felt extremely underpaid for what they are asked to do.
One quote from a nurse in Manitowac, WI summed it up perfectly:
“A local pizza place here is paying $20/hour to flip pizzas. Entry-level nursing positions at my hospital pay $25/hour. I’d rather take $5 less and flip pizzas than have to flip patients all day.”
Many hospitals say increasing nursing pay would put a “financial strain” on the hospitals. However, we at BetterNurse have found out how you can see just how much financial strain it would really put on those executives.
Here is how you can see what hospital executives and nurse administrators are making at your hospital.
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How To See Your Hospital Executive Salaries and Total Profits
There are some resources out there that may help you when negotiating your pay increase.
If you work for a non-profit hospital, follow these steps:
- Visit http://www.hospitalfinances.org/ and search for the name of your hospital in the search box.

2. Once you’ve selected the hospital, click on the “compensation” tab in the upper bar.

3. This will bring you to a list of hospital executive salaries, as well as insanely high bonuses for hospital administrators (and other employees).


How To See Past Compensation and Bonuses
You can also take a historical look at hospital executive salaries and bonuses based on tax information.
The numbers make us sick.
We know so many nurses over the past few years who were denied hazard pay and denied raises. Some even lost benefits because hospitals could not afford it.
Take a look back on those years and see if these executives lost their bonuses. Based on our research, none of them did.
Here is how to look at the numbers historically:
- At the top of the hospital page, click the link that says ProPublica Non-Profit Explorer.

- This will give you a detailed, historical look at what these executives made during the years that they couldn’t “afford” nursing hazard pay.
Conclusion
Sure, there is financial waste in hospitals, but it’s not from nurses.
It’s from the grossly overpaid executives that aren’t putting in the dangerous hours that all of us are.
We deserve more, and we hope this helps get you what you deserve.