Boston Medical Center Names New CEO

Boston Medical Center, the state's best-known safety net hospital, has a new CEO.

It's Kate Walsh, who is now the chief operating officer and executive vice president of Brigham and Women's Hospital. Walsh has also worked for Massachusetts General Hospital and the Novartis Institutes for Biomedical Research.

Walsh replaces BMC president and CEO Elaine Ullian, who has run the hospital since 1996, when it was created by the merger of Boston City Hospital and Boston University Medical Center Hospital. Ullian had previously announced that she would retire when her contract expires at the end of this month.

Walsh takes over the reins at BMC at a time when the hospital is struggling financially. BMC is projecting a $175 million loss this fiscal year, and in July it sued the state, accusing it of illegally cutting payments for the treatment the hospital provides to thousands of poor patients.

BMC is known as a safety net hospital because the majority of its patients are elderly and low-income people who are uninsured or who receive government insurance.

Walsh, who has bachelor's and master's degrees from Yale, will start her new job March 1. BMC's chief financial officer, Ron Bartlett, will serve as acting CEO during February.