St. Luke's had less money left over after it paid its bills this year than last, while the compensation of the highest-paid administrators and staff doctors continued to edge up.

The St. Luke's nonprofit hospitals in Boise and Meridian had $30.1 million left over after they paid all the bills in 2007, according to tax documents. The "profit" margin dropped from about 5.8 percent in 2007 to 2.8 percent so far this year, said officials.

That margin, technically called an operating margin, is down, but St. Luke's remains in an enviable financial position, officials there say.

The hospital has more than $200 million in cash on hand at a time when securing financing is painfully difficult for most companies.

"The good news is that through careful financial management, St. Luke's has a strong cash position," hospital spokesman Ken Dey said in an e-mail.

The Internal Revenue Service had not yet released up-to-date tax forms for St. Luke's when The Statesman did a comparison this summer of finances and executive pay at most of the nonprofit hospitals in the Treasure Valley.

The hospital is doing well, even though the economy is not, and more patients are having trouble paying their bills on time.

In the hospitals' most recent tax documents, a few more doctors and administrators passed the $1 million mark in compensation, retirement and other benefits reported in federal tax forms for 2007.

Compensation in the Treasure Valley is in line with that in similar-size markets nationwide, said Steve Millard, president of the Idaho Hospital Association.

St. Luke's is one of the biggest employers in the Treasure Valley, with more than 5,000 workers, but takes its nonprofit status seriously, he said

In the for-profit world, "If you get a corporation that big, you are going to have salaries bigger than being paid at St. Luke's," Millard said.

St. Luke's says the numbers look higher than they are because of IRS reporting requirements.

Ed Dahlberg, who holds the reins of the entire St. Luke's Health System, which includes four hospitals and 800 beds, shows total compensation from all sources of $1.1 million, slightly higher than a year earlier.

Dahlberg announced this fall that he planned to retire by 2010. About half of his reported compensation was related in one way or another to his retirement, and some of it had already been reported as income in previous years.

His pay did not vary substantially from the pay of Sandra Bruce, who was head of Saint Alphonsus until she left this fall to take a job running a string of hospitals in Chicago.

Gary Fletcher, chief executive officer of St. Luke's Boise and Meridian hospitals, earned $732,140, also with a big hunk tied up in his retirement.

Four of the five top-paid doctors at St. Luke's are urologists. "The cost of employing these physicians is more than offset by the revenue that they produce," Fletcher said.

"They are very hard workers."

Colleen LaMay: 377-6448