Los Angeles, Calif. – A Los Angeles judge has denied the petition by the California Hospital Association (CHA) to stop the “Limit Healthcare Executive Compensation in Los Angeles” initiative put forward by healthcare workers and patients seeking to control one of the factors driving healthcare costs higher during a time of record inflation.

California’s healthcare system faces a crisis of short staffing that impacts patients’ ability to receive timely care. The projected shortfall of 500,000 healthcare workers has become more serious as many workers left the field or died during the COVID-19 pandemic.

Pay rates for healthcare workers have failed to keep pace with those in the retail and food service industries, and while many healthcare workers receive less than $25 an hour, healthcare executive salaries and bonuses have continued to rise. In fact, CEOs at 3 Los Angeles hospitals make in excess of one million dollars annually, including Bernie Klein, CEO of Providence Holy Cross Medical Center who made $1.3 million in 2019; Paul Viviano, CEO of Children’s Hospital Los Angeles, who made $1.5 million in 2020; and Thomas Priselac, CEO of Cedars-Sinai who was paid an astounding $5.7 million in 2020. These exorbitant compensation packages drive healthcare costs higher for everyday Californians, while frontline caregivers scramble to make ends meet and serve patients while critically understaffed.

The initiative would limit compensation for executives, managers, and administrators of privately owned hospitals and other healthcare facilities in Los Angeles as provided in the initiative to no more than the total compensation for the President of the United States, currently $450,000 annually.

“The court’s decision allows Los Angeles voters to decide where their healthcare dollars should go: To improving patient care or into the pockets of corporate executives,” said Emergency Room Assistant Gabriel Montoya.

The city is in the process of counting and validating the signatures submitted for the initiative.