Broward Health board approves $975K settlement to former CEO

The Broward Health Board of Directors has approved a legal settlement with a former chief executive officer, closing a tumultuous chapter for the public health system.

The settlement for $975,000 to former CEO Pauline Grant, a longtime Broward Health executive who stepped in after the suicide of a previous CEO, signals an effort by new leadership to close out a legal matter that has lingered. “It’s time to close this chapter in a way that’s as amicable as possible,” Broward Health Commissioner Christopher Ure said at the board meeting on Wednesday evening.

The settlement ends all pending legal matters involving Broward Health and Grant and includes an agreement from Grant to cooperate and assist the hospital system in a pending federal investigation.

Edward Pozzuoli, of Tripp Scott, represented the health system in negotiations and said the settlement would save Broward Health a substantial amount of money “in light of defense costs and preparation of a jury and bench trial and the risk of litigation.”

The Broward Health board had fired Grant abruptly in December 2016 after a kickbacks investigation engineered by the hospital district’s general counsel with whom she had clashed.

The kickback allegations against Grant — never proven in court — occurred when the hospital already was under government review and involved illegally distributing contracts to orthopedic surgeons for on-call emergency department rotation when Grant ran one of the system’s hospitals. Grant denied participating in the alleged scheme and had hired an attorney to fight back.

Shortly after being fired, Grant filed suit, seeking severance of a year’s salary of roughly $619,000 and claiming the hospital district violated state public meetings law when the board and general counsel discussed firing her prior to the open meeting.

Last Friday, Pettis told the South Florida Sun Sentinel: “Pauline is very pleased that she has been treated equitably in the litigation. It brings closure to a dark chapter in the district’s history in the way Pauline was treated. We’re glad new leadership stepped in and did the right thing.”

Broward Health operates four hospitals and various outpatient and urgent care centers that provide healthcare in the northern two-thirds of the county. Partially supported by property taxes, the system has a new leadership team in place.