Ousted Caritas chief got $1.4m last year

Dr. Michael Collins, who was unexpectedly ousted as president of Caritas Christi Health Care in April, earned $1.4 million in compensation last year, far more than most other Boston teaching hospital executives.

Collins's compensation, which included a one-time $500,000 payment related to prior years, came when the state's largest Catholic hospital system was trying to turn itself around financially after years of struggle.

Caritas earned an operating profit of $3 million in the fiscal year ended Sept. 30, largely because of a one-time $11 million payment from the state Medicaid program to compensate the system for treating a large number of poor patients. The network had an operating loss of $15.9 million in 2002, during which time Collins earned $802,234, according to public filings.

The Boston Archdiocese unexpectedly asked Collins, a longtime leader in Boston healthcare, to step down in April. Archbishop Sean P. O'Malley and his advisers would not discuss their reasons. Collins's ouster triggered a period of instability in the network, which includes St. Elizabeth's Medical Center in Brighton.

Caritas spokesmen would not comment on Collins's compensation yesterday, only saying ''it's consistent with his contract." A spokesman for the archdiocese could not be reached for comment. The amount does includes deferred compensation from prior years.

Nonprofit hospitals have until Monday to file with the state attorney general's office last fiscal year's financial reports, including compensation for their highest paid employees. The office's public charities division collects salary information in part so it can monitor whether nonprofits, which are supposed to pump profits back into community services, are paying their executives excessive salaries.

Boston hospital executives have long maintained that salaries of their key leaders are in line with their national counterparts, and are necessary to attract top talent. Other hospital chief executives also fared well last year.

Elaine Ullian, chief executive of Boston Medical Center, also a hospital that largely serves the poor, earned $902,721 in compensation last year, up 5.6 percent from $854,927 the previous year.

''Last year was the seventh year of the most successful hospital merger in town and perhaps the most difficult," said chairman Marshall Carter, referring to the merger of Boston City Hospital and Boston University Medical Center. ''We didn't think a 5.5 percent increase was that unusual. She's really skinny-ed down the staff, and she's operating without a chief operating officer. She's running the place herself."

Dr. James Mandell, chief executive of Children's Hospital, earned $823,680 last year, when his compensation grew 8.8 percent from $757,000 the prior year. The increase comes at a time when Children's has turned around its losses, and earned robust profits.

''The reasons for the increase are related to his extraordinary performance and achieving the goals of the institution," said Children's spokeswoman Michelle Davis, who would not elaborate on the goals.

Paul Levy, chief executive of Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center, earned $786,413 in compensation last year, including a $150,000 bonus for turning around several years of multimillion dollar losses. He was chief executive for only part of the prior year.

Partners HealthCare, the largest hospital and physicians network in Massachusetts, and by far the most profitable, had some of the lower salaries.

Partners chief executive Dr. James Mongan earned $687,191 last year. That's a 10.4 percent increase over his $622,525 salary the prior year, when he was president of Massachusetts General Hospital, a member of Partners.

The new president of Mass. General, Dr. Peter Slavin, earned $747,050 last year, one-third more than his $559,000 compensation the prior year, for part of which he was head of the Massachusetts General Physicians Organization. His salary includes deferred compensation. Dr. Gary Gottlieb, earned $635,250 as chief executive of Brigham and Women's Hospital, another Partners member, last year. For part of the prior year, he was president of North Shore Medical Center.

Tufts-New England Medical Center paid Dr. Thomas O'Donnell $529,008 in compensation last year, far less than what he earned in the prior year: $798,411. But that year's compensation included a one-time payment of nearly $250,000 from the hospital's then-parent organization for achieving certain goals. Tufts-NEMC no longer has such an incentive plan.

Liz Kowalczyk can be reached at kowalczyk@globe.com.