Jackson Jambalaya

The Sun-Herald questioned the Mississippi Hospital's spending and distribution of grant money in a Sunday article:

The chief executive officer of the nonprofit Mississippi Hospital Association made $1.75 million in 2012, tripling the salary of his Louisiana counterpart and coming within $676,000 of the total grant money disbursed by MHA that year.

Roughly 47 percent of MHA's total salary expense that year, including benefits and deferred compensation, went to then-CEO Sam Cameron. Cameron's compensation also made up 20 percent of MHA's total expenses, according to the organization's IRS Form 990.

Cameron's pay was three times that of Louisiana Hospital Association CEO John Matessino and $1 million more than Alabama Hospital Association President Michael Horsley's.....

Interestingly, Toca (CPA quoted in story.) said, MHA's tax filing in 2012 lists Cameron's base compensation as $405,332 and his "other compensation" as $1.01 million. In comparison, the previous year's filing shows Cameron's "other compensation" as $29,905. ....

MHA Chief Financial Officer Richard Grimes said Cameron's surge in pay came from his retirement assets.

"Sam Cameron was an employee of the association for more than 40 years and served as president/CEO of the association for most of those years," Grimes said. "During the 2012-2013 tax year, he was nearing retirement and was transferred retirement assets that had accrued over many prior years. Base compensation for the MHA CEO position is established through a board committee with recommendations from a consultant that analyzes the market for similar positions across the Southeast and the nation."

The association's tax form also listed various transactions with related organizations, including one line item for $777,751 in reimbursements paid by MHA "for work done by MHA Solutions employees."

MHA Solutions Inc. is a for-profit insurance company and subsidiary of MHA. It has gone through several name changes since its founding in 1962.....

In 2012, the association distributed $2.4 million in grants to various health-care facilities, contributing less than 65 percent of its total employee compensation to the state's health-care industry but more than the $1,500 distributed by Louisiana and $1.4 million by Alabama, its two neighboring hospital associations.

Half of MHA's total grant money went to several Mississippi hospitals owned by Select Medical, a publicly traded corporation based in Pennsylvania.

During that same year, Chandler Ewing, an MHA district council member and secretary/treasurer for MHA's health-care executives committee, became CEO of a Select Medical specialty hospital in Jackson that received a $345,532 grant.

Some current and former MHA and MHA Solutions directors also have ties to hospitals that received the association's grant distributions, including Daryl Weaver, John Dawson, Michael Edwards, Chuck Reese and Clinton Eaves.

Weaver is an executive with Mississippi Baptist Health System, and Dawson an administrator at Montfort Jones Memorial Hospital, a Baptist Health affiliate....

More than $1.4 million of the $2.4 million MHA grant money went to hospitals that have ties or, in some cases, direct connections to MHA board members.

A similar picture exists in the association's 2010 and 2011 tax filings, which show most of the same hospitals receiving the grants..... Rest of article.