BMC paid chief executive $3.5m on top of salary
A year before Boston Medical Center reported its first loss in five years, the hospital paid its chief executive, Elaine Ullian, $3.5 million in deferred compensation on top of her $1.35 million salary and benefits, according to a recent filing with the state attorney general’s office.
Ullian, who announced her resignation this summer when her contract ends in January, received the additional compensation last year, a time when the hospital reported $56 million in profitable earnings.
But the hospital has said it expects to lose $38 million by the end of this fiscal year and projects it will lose an additional $175 million next fiscal year, which begins on Oct. 1, an 18 percent operating loss that is unusually large even in Massachusetts’ topsy-turvy hospital industry.
The additional compensation has raised concerns in the state attorney general’s office and the mayor’s office.
“Our office is concerned about escalating executive compensation levels at our larger charitable institutions,’’ said Emily LaGrassa, a spokeswoman for the attorney general’s office, in a statement.
“While it is not the attorney general’s role to set compensation levels, we are entrusted with the responsibility to assure that governance practice in this area is open, transparent, and for the exclusive benefit of our charitable organizations, and the public they serve.
“It is precisely for these reasons that our office has undertaken an increased oversight role with regard to compensation practices for executives and directors in Massachusetts nonprofit charitable health care organizations.’’
Mayor Thomas M. Menino said he thinks her compensation should be lowered.
“In these difficult economic times, he would have liked to have seen a readjustment of the compensation package,’’ said Dot Joyce, the mayor’s spokeswoman.
Hospital officials declined to say how much compensation Ullian has received this year.
They said last year’s compensation was part of a contract negotiated in 2005 and accounts for her 15 years at the hospital.
In a statement, Ted English, chairman of the hospital’s board of trustees, defended Ullian’s compensation, which was first reported by WCVB-TV.
He said it was set by a committee formed by the trustees that “consult[s] with independent compensation advisors.’’
“It is based on her performance evaluation and measurable goals that are reviewed annually,’’ English said.
David Abel can be reached at dabel@globe.com. 
