Crises at Clinics
Across California, clinic workers and patients are revealing a disturbing trend emerging in clinics that profess to prioritize care for our communities:
Short staffing
- Workers are forced to rush from patient to patient, spending little time to answer questions, not able to dedicate the time they’d like to each patient.
Long waits
- Clinic patients face long waits—from the lobby, to appointments, appointments get canceled last minute, struggles to get referred to a specialist, etc.
Excessive Executive Pay
- Clinics are paying executives exorbitant amounts that could otherwise be invested in patient care and hiring more staff.
- Innercare’s executive director Yvonne Bell for example earned $641,974 in total compensation in 2022.
- DAP Health CEO David Brinkman received $450,114 in 2022.
- Mission City Community Network paid its CEO, Nik Gupta, $1,004,860 in 2023. This is especially excessive since Mission City Community Network reported only serving 9,803 patients in 2023.
- Omni Family Health paid its CEO Francisco Castillon $999,655 in 2023.
- Based on analysis of the most recent IRS 990 reports for California Community Clinic CEOs, the median total compensation is $347,260 ($166.95/hr), while Certified Medical Assistants are struggling earning a median total salary of 23.28/hr and Dental Assistants 22.17/hr.
These are the Top 10 highest compensated California Community Clinic CEOs
(based on most recent IRS Form 990 reports)
| Employer | CEO Name | Report Year | Total Compensation | Rank | Annual Patients Served (2023) |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Community Health Centers of the Central Coast, Inc. | Ron Castle | 2023 | $2,776,761 | 1 | 111,576 |
| Altamed Health Services Corporation | Castulo de la Rocha | 2022 | $1,447,586 | 2 | 276,326 |
| Centro de Salud de la Comunidad de San Ysidro, Inc. | Kevin Mattson | 2022 | $1,206,804 | 3 | 128,158 |
| Mission City Community Network, Inc. | Nik Gupta | 2023 | $1,004,860 | 4 | 9,803 |
| Omni Family Health | Francisco Castillon | 2023 | $999,965 | 5 | 133,889 |
| Family Health Centers of San Diego | Fran Butler-Cohen | 2023 | $969,210 | 6 | 159,114 |
| San Diego Inc. | |||||
| North East Medical Services | Eddie W. Chan | 2022 | $829,707 | 7 | 72,678 |
| United Health Centers of the San Joaquin Valley | Colleen Curtis, President* * Current CEO is Justin Preas | 2022 | $815,533 | 8 | 163,218 |
| Family Healthcare Network | Kerry Hydash | 2022 | $815,018 | 9 | 238,703 |
| La Maestra Family Clinic Inc. | Zara Marselian | 2023 | $773,897 | 10 | 44,489 |
Workers Allege Retaliation and Firing for Advocating for Better Working Conditions
- Over 83% of community clinics’ revenue comes from public funds, but, according to allegations in unfair labor practice charges, that hasn’t stopped non-profit clinics from using the same anti-worker dirty tricks as giant, for-profit corporations.
- According to those charges, community clinic executives are waging a relentless campaign to stop clinic workers’ right to join together in a union.
- Bay Area Community Health agreed to pay more than $55,000 to settle an unfair labor practice charge alleging it unlawfully terminated a nurse practitioner in retaliation for speaking out to improve working conditions.
- Clinica Sierra Vista, Innercare, APLA and Bay Area Community Health face unfair labor practice charges alleging they fired workers who spoke in favor of forming their union.
Wage Theft and Other Allegations
- Bay Area Community Health agreed to pay at least $4.85 million to settle a class action lawsuit representing 1,872 workers who alleged violations like unpaid minimum wage, unpaid overtime, unpaid meal and rest premiums and failure to pay timely wages.
- El Proyecto Del Barrio settled a lawsuit for $2.15 million in 2022 over allegations of wage and hour violations.
- Innercare paid $1.78 million in October 2023 to settle allegations including failure to pay all overtime and minimum wages, failure to provide meal and rest periods, failure to provide timely wages, and failing to reimburse business expenses.
- Imperial Beach Community Clinic agreed to pay $450,000 in a wage theft settlement for claims made by two workers.
Medi-Cal Fraud Investigations
Far too many clinics have paid millions of dollars to resolve claims of trying to defraud the state and federal governments.
- Clinic Sierra Vista, based in the Central Valley, agreed to pay nearly $26 million for defrauding the state and federal governments.
- Borrego Health, which is now part of DAP Health, faced a criminal investigation for potential fraud and paid $20 million to state regulators. It filed for bankruptcy in 2022.
- In 2023, the U.S. Department of Justice and California Attorney General’s office announced a $3.5 million settlement to resolve allegations of Medi-Cal fraud against Community Health Centers of Central Coast.
- Clinicas del Camino Real agreed to pay $12.5 million to the federal government and California to resolve allegations of submitting false claims.
- Lawsuits accused Inland Behavioral and Health Services Inc of falsifying patient data, over prescribing painkillers and terminating whistleblowers.
- Santa Maria’s Children and Family Center former CEO Vincenzo Rubino was sentenced to more than 10 years in prison and ordered to pay $3.8 million in restitution and $2.3 million in penalties for healthcare fraud and identity theft.