It’s just about time for “The Night Before,” the annual celebrity event for the Motion Picture Televison Fund, at the Beverly Hills Hotel. Big stars are corralled by the studios for a photo op and to pick up gift bags full of junk they later give their staffs. The ticket prices are astronomical, even though the MPTF, which operates the Motion Picture Home in Woodland Hills, is well funded at this point from $10-$30 million pledges from Hollywood’s inner circle.
As the celebs stumble to their limos Saturday night, I do hope they stop and get some facts and figures on this nursing home where they might– it’s unlikely-wind up one day. This is the same place that just went through several years of controversy when the MPTF announced it was shutting down their long term care unit. They are also the recipients of terrible reviews and grades from the State of California.
It’s not like the MPTF staff is suffering. According to the most recent Form 990 filed by the not for profit organization, CEO Bob Beitcher received $800,000 ($750K base pay) in compensation in 2011. We don’t know yet about 2012 because they haven’t filed their tax return. But Beitcher got a huge increase in salary– up from $441,486 in 2010.
In 2010, retiring CEO David Tillman– who had to resign during the scandal over shutting down long term care– waltzed out of the MPTF with a cool $1.6 million. In 2011, he still made another $600,000. With that kind of money, Tillman won’t have to retire to the Woodland Hills home, that’s for sure. He immediately got a job running private health care agency Partners in Care. The past chairman of their board is Seth Ellis, COO of the MPTF, who himself pulles down more than $500K a year from the stars’ nursing home before he was ousted in 2012.
As Bruce Springsteen sings, “We take care of of our own.” (I don’t think he meant it in that way!)
Not bad considering a ripping negative report in fall 2012 from the state that described “needless suffering” and “deficient care.”
You can read all about the state report here: http://www.showbiz411.com/2012/10/16/shocking-report-about-hundred-million-dollar-hollywood-nursing-home-needless-suffering-deficient-care
A source who worked on the report told me: “The MPTV Fund exec [Beitcher] went kind of ballistic attacking the messenger and put a lot of money into addressing our concerns (while denying that any of them were valid).”
All the executive salaries at MPTF are high, well into the six figures. Of course their revenue for 2011 was $82 million. But compare that to other good nursing homes, like the Hebrew Home for the Aged in Riverdale, the Bronx, New York. In 2011, their total revenue was ten million dollars more than MPTF’s– over $93 million. And their CEO’s base compensation was far less than Beitcher’s $750,000.
Something to think about while the A listers are carting home free sneakers, iPods, and gift certificates.
The new Form 990 for MPTF should emerge shortly. The tradition is for it to be published right after the Oscars and The Night Before events.
