Erlanger Health System will give its employees a record $3.5 million in bonuses next month after the hospital boosted its earnings last year to the highest level in the hospital’s 126-year history.
Pending final approval by Erlanger trustees on Thursday, Chattanooga’s biggest hospital will give $400 to each of the more than 3,300 non-manager employees of Erlanger. The bonuses, which total $1.4 million, are the first companywide bonus checks given all Erlanger employees since 2004 and should be paid Oct. 2.
Erlanger’s budget and finance committee endorsed the one-time payments Monday night after auditors said Erlanger more than tripled its net income in fiscal 2015 to a record $37.3 million, reversing more than $36 million the hospital previously lost from 2008 to 2013. In 2014, Erlanger earned $11.3 million.
Kevin M. Spiegel, Erlanger Health System CEO, has been credited with leading the financial turnaround of the hospital.“This is a way for management to acknowledge all of the employees – both full-time and part-time – that really added to Erlanger’s unprecedented success,” Erlanger CEO Kevin Spiegel told trustees.
Britt Tabor, Erlanger’s chief financial officer, said the turnaround at Erlanger has been the most remarkable in his 29 years at the hospital.