Assembly Bill 503 pending before the Legislature would amend California nonprofit hospitals’ reporting rules, required due to their exemption from corporate income taxes.The California Nurses Association is a proud co-sponsor of that bill and was surprised by Bruce Maiman’s criticism of our role promoting it, (“ State nurses group plays hardball,” Viewpoints, June 17). The accusation that the nurses association distorted the dialogue could not be further from the truth and is more appropriate for Maiman’s former work as a radio talk show host than the more measured, well-informed opinions readers expect to see on the Op-Ed pages of The Sacramento Bee.

Contra Costa County will direct $6 million to keep cash-strapped Doctors Medical Center afloat for the next few months and give officials time to ponder what to do next. The $6 million property tax transfer approved by the board of supervisors Tuesday represents a third of the San Pablo-based hospital's annual $18 million deficit. The money will allow it to continue to operate while officials scramble to come up with a permanent rescue formula for a downsized facility.

Every year Los Angeles’ Cedars-Sinai Medical Center releases a glossy brochure called Report to the Community. Among the doctor profiles and research-breakthrough stories are several dry metrics dealing with the number of beds, total patient and outpatient days and, perhaps most impressively, the year’s dollar value for something called “community benefit contributions.” Cedars, which is the state’s third highest-earning nonprofit hospital, claimed $640.3 million as its 2012 community benefit contribution.

An activist nurses union is pushing for legislation in Massachusetts that would create greater transparency regarding hospital prices, executive compensation and investment of assets. The Massachusetts Nurses Association (MNA), affiliated with the National Nurses United, supports legislation, HB 3844, that would require disclosure of hospital profit margins, executive pay, and how organizations invest assets overseas. The union is also pushing for a voter ballot initiative as a backup to the legislative route.

A radio advertisement was launched on Wednesday blasting hospital CEOs in Massachusetts for their excessive salaries and compensation packages, while also pointing out the millions of dollars stashed in accounts in the Cayman Islands. The advertisement was released while hospital CEOs gather together at the Chatham Bars Inn for the Massachusetts Hospital Association annual meeting in an effort to show the disconnect between hospital CEOs and their desire to provide adequate patient care.