Early on, Mr. Broccolino built a career in the savings and loan industry, then rerouted his business acumen toward health care. He was controller at Franklin Square Hospital and at Bon Secours where he eventually became CEO. Since 1990, the hospital has turned a profit every year. Today, it offers a broader range of services than any other non-teaching community hospital in the state. It has inpatient and outpatient obstetrics, pediatrics (including an ICU for newborns), and psychiatry. In FY ‘03, admissions increased by 1,200. That year, notes Broccolino like a proud father, was also the biggest for babies: 3,333 deliveries in all. The hospital is ranked fifth in obstetrics in Maryland. With its new emergency department, it now has more ER visits per bed than any hospital with 200 or more licensed beds in the state.

The 1998 merger likely would not have occurred had Broccolino not suggested in 1992 that the hospital would probably need to merge within the decade. Fearing that HCGH was too small to compete in the long term, he convinced the board of trustees to look for a strategic partner while HCGH was performing well, rather than later on, when it could be in a less desirable position. In all, there were 15 prospects, including other hospitals, a nursing home chain, even a hospitality chain. “In the end we wanted a partner with staying power and an excellent reputation.” Broccolino says they found both in Hopkins.

He attributes much of HCGH’s growth in the past five years to the affiliation. Hopkins’ 24/7 referring physician backup, specialty care, increased security through Broadway Services, shared contracts with outside vendors, financial assistance with such projects as the new ED are among the advantages he cites. But the icing on the cake is the fact that Hopkins, like HCGH, fosters community building through its programs in East Baltimore. And although the inner city bears little resemblance to Columbia’s planned suburbia, Broccolino says both require a hospital’s attention

Broccolino received his undergraduate degree from the University of Baltimore in Business Administration and his Masters in Business Administration at Loyola College.