Ex-hospital CEO Laverty cashing in

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August 21, 2012

Ex-hospital CEO Laverty cashing in

Ousted Northeast chief Laverty netted $573K in 2011, records show

Paul Leighton Staff Writer The Gloucester Daily Times Tue Aug 21, 2012, 12:00 AM EDT

BEVERLY — Nearly four years after he resigned under fire, former Northeast Health System CEO Stephen Laverty is still collecting big paychecks from his former employer.

Laverty was paid $573,348 in severance in 2011, the second year in a row he has received buyout money from Northeast, the parent nonprofit corporation to Beverly Hospital and Gloucester’s Addison Gilbert Hospital, and a corporation that was essentially merged with Lahey Clinic to become the new Lahey Health System under an agreement that gained the necessary state approvals earlier this year.

All of the data regarding Laverty’s pay is shown through financial records the hospital corporation was required to report to the state last week.

Laverty received $990,356 in 2010, for a buyout of more than $1.56 million over those two years. Laverty, however, has not worked for Northeast since Nov. 11, 2008, when he resigned after doctors and nurses had taken separate no-confidence votes against him.

Beverly Hospital released a statement Monday saying, “We cannot comment on Mr. Laverty or the terms of any agreements between the company and past employees.”

Laverty could not be reached Monday for comment.

Laverty’s tenure was plagued by acrimony and controversy, especially on Cape Ann, where many residents resented the shift of more and more services from Addison Gilbert to Beverly Hospital even years after the merger of AGH into Northeast Health Systems in 1994.

In 2005, the Occupational Safety and Health Administration cited the hospital for exposing employees to “workplace violence in the form of aggressive and/or abusive behavior and language from patients and employees at your facility.”

In May of this year, one of the executives hired by Laverty — Paul Galzerano of Groveland — pleaded guilty to soliciting bribes and kickbacks and stealing valuable paintings while overseeing a $50 million renovation of the hospital. Galzerano was sentenced to an 18-month jail term. At least one of the stolen artworks was confirmed as the work of a Rockport artist that had been donated to and displayed at Addison Gilbert Hospital prior to the 1994 merger.

The latest hospital filings also indicate that current Northeast Health System CEO Kenneth Hanover was paid $817,542 in 2011.

Northeast merged with Lahey Health System on May 1. Lahey CEO Howard Grant has a base compensation of $975,000, according to spokesman Scott Hartman.

In addition to Addison Gilbert and Beverly Hospital, Northeast Health System also includes BayRidge Hospital in Lynn, and the Beverly Hospital at Danvers outpatient facility.

Staff writer Paul Leighton can be reached through pleighton@gloucestertimes.com.