Below is a selection of media coverage of a highly successful press conference featuring the delivery of Cayman Island Beach Towels to all Massachusetts legislators by the Hospital CEO Fat Cat, bringing to light the fact that as many as 40 Massachusetts hospitals are stashing untold millions of dollars in offshore accounts at the same time that they are cutting services and the quality of care patients receive.  This media coverage was supported by an aggressive social media push with postings on the MNA and ballot campaign Facebook pages. We also had our beach towel and a headline posted on the video billboard in Times Square.

--Massachusetts Nurses Association

Image of Cayman Island beach towels presented to Massachusetts legislators by the Hospital CEO "Fat Cat" mascot.

NURSES DEPLOY “FAT CAT” TO PLUG HOSPITAL TRANPARENCY PLAN

By Matt Murphy
STATE HOUSE NEWS SERVICE

STATE HOUSE, BOSTON, APRIL 29, 2014--With beach towels as props and a brown “fat cat” mascot wearing a top hat and monocle on hand for effect, nurses and other advocates in favor of a ballot initiative requiring greater hospital financial transparency said they won’t be deterred if the Legislature declines to act first on their petition.

“We’re always hopeful, but if we can’t settle this here we’ll let the people of the Commonwealth settle it,” said Karen Higgins, a staff nurse at Boston Medical Center and past president of the Massachusetts Nurses Association.

MNA's CEO Fat Cat Mascot.

St. Luke's, Charlton and Tobey on list of hospitals with offshore accounts

April 29, 2014 9:36 PM

By SIMÓN RIOS

Southcoast Health's three local hospitals are among 40 across Massachusetts with “unreported millions” stored in offshore accounts, according to a list from the state's largest health care union.

“The accounts held in the Cayman Islands and other places raise questions,” said Alan Sager, director of the Health Reform Program at Boston University's School of Public Health, in a release by the Massachusetts Nurses Association.

“How much money is involved? Why do hospitals park money overseas? What do they hope to gain?”

The MNA is campaigning to require hospitals receiving tax subsidies to fully disclose profit margins, as well as offshore holdings and CEO compensation.

Mass hospitals, offshore bank accounts

Tiffany ChanUpdated: Tuesday, April 29, 2014, 6:57 pmPublished: Tuesday, April 29, 2014, 4:05 pm

BOSTON, Mass (WWLP) – The Massachusetts Nurses Association is demanding transparency from hospitals regarding offshore bank accounts.

22News asked both sides where your money is REALLY going.

The state’s largest nurses union claims hospitals, including Baystate Medical Center, is stashing millions in offshore accounts, in places like the Cayman Islands. While it may sound sinister, Baystate Medical Center spokesman, Ben Craft, told 22News it’s actually a very common practice.

Union faults hospitals on off-shore accounts

Tuesday, April 29, 2014

By: Associated Press

BOSTON — The state's largest nurses' union and a handful of state lawmakers are faulting hospitals in Massachusetts for keeping money in offshore accounts and urging what they say is greater transparency in hospital finances.

The Massachusetts Nurses Association is pushing legislation which would require hospitals to report all investments.

At a Statehouse press conference the union released a list of 40 hospitals with offshore accounts in locations like the Cayman Islands and Bermuda.

The Massachusetts Hospital Association called the Statehouse event a union-backed "publicity stunt" and said some hospitals create off-shore accounts for self-insurance purposes.

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