Exclusive: Watchdog group asks Dem gov if taxpayers are ‘subsidizing’ nonprofit hospital system’s ‘out-of-step spending priorities’

By: Ireland Owens, DCNF

Fiscal advocacy watchdog Save Our States sent a letter to Democratic Illinois Gov. JB Pritzker on Thursday urging him to probe alleged lavish spending by taxpayer-subsidized nonprofit hospitals in his state, The Daily Caller News Foundation first learned.

SOS Founder and Executive Director Trent England told Pritzker in the letter that major nonprofit hospitals “receive enormous public benefits, including tax exemptions and government funding, with the understanding that they will prioritize patient care, including charity care,” adding that such “public trust deserves oversight, particularly where taxpayer dollars are involved.”

“Our report documents a disturbing pattern at Rush University Medical Center,” according to the letter. “In 2017, the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services Office of Inspector General found that Medicare overpaid Rush by $10.2 million ‘because the Hospital did not have adequate controls to prevent the incorrect billing of Medicare claims.’”

“More recently, in February 2024, Rush laid off employees citing ‘financial struggles’ while declining to disclose how many workers lost their jobs,” England wrote further. “At the same time, Rush continued to lavish benefits on executives.”

During fiscal year 2024, Rush University System for Health and Rush University Medical Center President and CEO Dr. Omar Lateef received $3,687,548 in compensation, according to a May 2025 tax filing published by ProPublica.

Rush did not respond to the DCNF’s request for comment.

“These findings are especially concerning given that, under your leadership, Rush University Medical Center has received more than $74,957,849 in state funding since fiscal year 2020 (according to the Office of the Illinois Comptroller),” the letter says. “In fiscal year 2024 alone, Rush received more than $10,473,813 in state taxpayer dollars.”

SOS’ letter asserts that tax-exempt status “is a privilege, not an entitlement, and taxpayer funding carries with it an obligation to operate with transparency, responsibility, and accountability.”

The average annual wage for nonprofit hospital CEOs climbed from $813,657.60 in 2009 to an estimated $1,037,182.70 in 2023, Healthcare Dive reported in August 2025, citing data from Health Affairs.

The letter also asks Pritzker’s administration to “review” Illinois’ “financial relationship with Rush University Medical Center, as well as other major non-profit hospitals, and determine what additional oversight is warranted.”

In February 2024, Rush said that it had conducted some layoffs but would not confirm how many employees in total were impacted, the Chicago Sun-Times reported.

“In response to financial headwinds affecting healthcare providers nationwide, Rush has undertaken a restructuring resulting in [the] elimination of some administrative and leadership positions,” a Rush spokesperson told the Chicago Sun-Times in a statement at the time.

Lateef notably announced in June that he plans to retire from his role at Rush in June 2027.

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