Dozens of Covenant Health nurses paid over $150,000

Dozens of Covenant Health's registered nurses and nurse practitioners were paid more than $150,000 a year, according to salaries disclosed for the first time under the NDP government's new "Sunshine List."

The list reveals 59 registered nurses were paid more than $150,000. Of those, two nurses pulled in more than $210,000 in 2015. Five nurse practitioners were paid more than $150,000, with one earning more than $198,000.

Covenant Health spokesperson Rayne Kuntz, in an emailed statement, said the high-paid nurses make up a very small percentage of its 11,000 staff.

The nurses' compensation "includes base salary, overtime, shift premiums, weekend premiums, on-call pay, sick pay and vacation pay," the statement said. "Also listed in a separate column are non-monetary benefits, including the amount of employer paid benefits premiums, employer paid portion of EI, CPP, etc."

Sandra Azocar from the Friends of Medicare said high salaries for registered nurses shows poor planning.

"They're having to call in nurses on short notice on overtime to meet the roster needs," she said. "That means there would also be a shortage of RNs (registered nurses)."

The disclosure also includes the salary, and contract, of Covenant Health Chief Executive Officer Patrick Dumelie. At more than $560,000, Dumelie's pay in 2015 appears to be a reduction of nearly $300,000 from 2013, when CBC News reported Dumelie was paid $826,000 a year.

CEO salary reduced?

But it is not clear if Dumelie's pay has actually been reduced or if he is simply getting paid money from other sources than Covenant is no longer disclosing.

Covenant's emailed statement said it had improved the transparency of its contract with Dumelie "to clearly state the salary supported through public funding related to Covenant Health - and to remove salary invoiced to non-public funding sources."

CBC News asked Kuntz if Dumelie is being paid from other entities under the Covenant umbrella, and if so, which entities, how much and how is Dumelie's time, serving these various entities, tracked.

Kuntz said she couldn't provide any additional information late Friday afternoon.

Dumelie's contract, posted online, shows that as of 2014 he also received $1 million-dollar life insurance, in addition to Covenant's existing group life plan, disability insurance that pays full salary and benefits, and club or fitness memberships of up to $10,000 yearly. Dumelie also receives a car allowance of $13,200 a year.

Created in 2008, Covenant Health is a Catholic health-care organization, which operates 18 hospitals and care facilities across the province. In Edmonton, these include the Grey Nuns Community Hospital and the Misericordia Community Hospital. It also operates the Banff Mineral Springs Hospital.

With 11,000 employees and a budget of $843 million, Covenant is about one-tenth the size of Alberta Health Services. Despite this, AHS CEO Verna Yiu is paid about $575,000 a year, slightly more than Dumelie's disclosed salary.

Several other health authorities of similar size to Covenant also pay their CEOs less than Dumelie.

Back in 2013, Covenant board chair John Brennan defended Dumelie's salary. He said Covenant's executive compensation is reviewed by external consultants and "the compensation of every senior executive falls either within or below established compensation bands" for health-industry executives.

@charlesrusnell

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