Episode Details

At the start of the pandemic, three St. Louis-area healthcare CEOs promised that they would reduce or freeze their seven-figure salaries. It came at a time when thousands of their employees were losing their jobs and benefits. As it turns out, those promises were never fulfilled. St. Louis Post-Dispatch reporter Jacob Barker evaluated tax filings from the three major hospital systems in the area — Mercy Health, BJC Health and SSM Health — and found their leaders were paid more in 2020 than they were in 2019. Barker takes us inside his reporting, the crises facing hospitals when they announced the pledge in May 2020, and what he's learned about how these leaders fared while their employees suffered.