Broward Health Names 5th CEO in Three Years

New CEO Gino Santorio has served as COO at the five-hospital health system since 2017, and he takes over immediately.

Broward Health has a new CEO, again.

Gino Santorio, the COO at Broward Health, on Wednesday night was promoted to president and CEO of the five-hospital health system after a unanimous vote by the hospital district's board of commissioners.

Santorio is Broward Health's fifth CEO the past three years, and he takes over immediately, the Fort Lauderdale-based health system said in a media release.

"I am excited to have been selected to lead Broward Health," Santorio said. "Our team is motivated and looking forward to building on our successes. We are committed to our mission of providing the highest quality of care."

Broward Health has been plagued by leadership churn. CEO Beverly Capasso resigned abruptly in October, citing personal reasons, just eight months after signing a three-year contract with the health system.

Capasso and four other Broward Health leaders—General Counsel Lynn Barrett, board Chairman Rocky Rodriguez, and board members Christopher Ure and Linda Robison—face misdemeanor charges for allegedly mishandling the dismissal of former interim CEO Pauline Grant in 2016 in violation of Florida's Sunshine Law, which requires public entities to conduct their business publicly.

Barrett was fired as general counsel in November.

Before joining Broward Health, Santorio was senior vice president and CEO for Jackson North Medical Center and was VP/COO of Jackson Memorial Hospital. He has served as COO and CFO/Hospital Compliance Officer at Spring Hill Regional Hospital in Spring Hill, Florida, and assistant CFO at Brooksville Regional Hospital.

"Gino is innovative and forward-thinking, and we are confident he will bring Broward Health to the next level of service," said Andrew Klein, chairman of the North Broward Hospital District Board of Commissioners. "This is an excellent step in the right direction for the organization."

Santorio's appointment as CEO came shortly after Moody's Investors Service changed its rating outlook for North Broward Hospital District to stable from negative.

The bond-rating agency said Broward Health's Baa2 rating "would continue to benefit from the system's role as a large and diversified health system, a strong unrestricted cash and investments relative to total debt and operations as well as modest debt structure risks."

However, Moody's also warned that "thin cash-flow, an above average and rising average age of plant, high reliance on Medicaid and supplemental funding, an extraordinary level of external scrutiny under a Corporate Integrity Agreement, and an unusual degree of turnover of senior leadership will continue to constrain the rating."