31.   Hospital executives said that a strict reading of this standard could harm patients by limiting the free flow of information among the people who care for patients.

32.   Hospital executives say that taken together, records of their three-year tangles with HCFA presents a distorted picture.

33.   Hospital executives used to blanch when the conversation turned to medical errors.

34.   However, hospital executives have warned they may be forced to lay off workers if Congress goes ahead with plans to make large cuts in Medicare and Medicaid.

35.   Hospital executives across the nation have praised the idea behind the program, but say they too should receive the compensation that New York hospitals will be getting.

36.   Hospital executives and other health care providers said they were profoundly disappointed.

37.   Hospital executives from the state convened in Washington Monday to lobby lawmakers and the White House to preserve Medicare payment raises.

38.   Hospital executives receive big paychecks, the critics say, and could solve many problems by putting more staff to work instead of in management meetings.

39.   Hospital executives said the figures were misleading because one-fourth of all hospitals were losing money on their Medicare inpatient business.

40.   Hospital executives said they exercised their right under federal labor law to impose the last bargaining offer they made at the time the negotiations reached an impasse.