Mercy Health Services President & CEO Thomas R. Mullen Announces Pending Retirement

(Baltimore, MD – January 16, 2020) -- After 28 years of successful service, Mercy Health Services President & CEO Thomas R. Mullen has announced his plans to retire as President & CEO effective July 2020. The Board of Trustees of Mercy Health Services announced the unanimous selection of Executive Vice President, David N. Maine, M.D. to succeed Mr. Mullen at that time. Mr. Mullen will then serve as Senior Advisor through December 2021.

 

“On behalf of the Board of Trustees, we extend our deepest gratitude for Tom’s peerless leadership. His efforts during these past 28 years have made Mercy the thriving health care system it is today,” said Sister Helen Amos, RSM, Executive Chair, Board of Trustees.  “Tom and our entire Board are confident in the appointment of Dr. David Maine to build upon Mercy’s success well into the future,” Sister Helen Amos continued.  “As a longtime Mercy physician leader, Dr. Maine is uniquely qualified to bolster and further expand Mercy’s award-winning clinical programs, enhancing Mercy’s singular position as an independent, Catholic health system with statewide reach.”

“Serving as President & CEO of Mercy has been the experience of a lifetime. Since the hospital’s founding by the Sisters of Mercy in 1874, Mercy has been a very special place of hope and healing, committed to its mission of service to the Greater Baltimore community,” Mr. Mullen said. “For more than a decade at Mercy, Dr. Maine has consistently demonstrated clinical and business excellence, compassion for our patients, and a deep personal commitment to our mission and values. He’s exactly the right leader at the right time for Mercy.”

“I am honored and humbled to be selected by the Board of Trustees to follow in Tom’s footsteps as President & CEO of Mercy Health Services,” Dr. David Maine said. “As a result of Tom’s and Sister Helen’s leadership over the years, Mercy is blessed with outstanding physicians, providers, nurses, staff and a strong team of executive leaders all committed to moving Mercy forward for many years to come,” Dr. Maine continued. “As a mission-driven organization, we look forward to meeting the challenges of an evolving healthcare landscape by leading as the health system of choice with high-quality, high-value services provided in a community of compassionate care.”

Dr. David Maine has served as Executive Vice President for Mercy Health Services since October 2019, responsible for all MHS operations, overseeing the Medical Center, specialty and primary care physician networks, and Mercy affiliates. Prior to assuming the role of Executive Vice President of Mercy Health Services, Dr. Maine was Executive Vice President of Mercy’s Physician Enterprise, focusing on the growth of its physician network. Dr. Maine’s other roles at Mercy have included serving as President of Medical Staff; as Senior Vice President of Clinical Transformation, leading Mercy’s efforts to launch SurgCenter of Towson; and since 2007, as Medical Director of The Center for Interventional Pain Medicine at Mercy, earning distinction as a Baltimore magazine “Top Doctor” by providing leading-edge treatment options to patients throughout Maryland.

Dr. Maine is Board Certified in Anesthesiology and Pain Medicine. He is a graduate of the University of Rochester School Of Medicine. He completed his residency in Anesthesiology and his fellowship in Interventional Pain Medicine at The Johns Hopkins Hospital. Dr. Maine, 43, lives in Pikesville, Maryland with his wife and two children.

“On behalf of the Archdiocese of Baltimore’s half million Catholics, we celebrate and cherish Tom Mullen’s exceptional leadership as Mercy Health Services’ first lay President & CEO,” said Archbishop William Lori. “With Dr. David Maine taking the helm in July, I have no doubt Mercy will remain a shining beacon of light and hope for our City with a special commitment to the poor and underserved. We are grateful for Sister Helen Amos’ continuing service as Executive Chair of the Board of Trustees and Mercy’s ongoing promise to remain an independent, locally-governed health system, fully committed to its Catholic identity.”  

“As Mercy Health Services’ Canonical Sponsor, the Sisters of Mercy are very proud to have worked with Tom Mullen for nearly three decades to further our health care ministry for the people of Baltimore,” said Sister Pat Coward, RSM, Health Ministry Liaison for the Sisters of Mercy of the Americas, South Central Community. “We believe Mercy is well-positioned under the leadership of Dr. David Maine as the future President and CEO to carry forward Mercy’s mission and values inspired by the life of our founder, Catherine McAuley,” Sister Coward continued.

When Mr. Mullen, 63, first arrived at Mercy Medical Center in 1991 as Chief Financial Officer to work alongside then newly-appointed President & CEO Sister Helen Amos, RSM, Mercy was seriously challenged to remain relevant as a small, urban hospital located in a struggling city with a declining population. In the decades that followed, Mercy was transformed into a strong and growing regional health system through the creation of new Centers of Excellence led by renowned physicians who developed focused, high-quality clinical programs in Women’s Health, Orthopedics, Cancer, Digestive Health, and more. With Mr. Mullen’s vision and ongoing support, the new physician-led programs began drawing ever-increasing numbers of new patients to Mercy from throughout Maryland and beyond.

Early on, Mr. Mullen also recognized the need to work with Mercy’s physician leaders to provide comprehensive services closer to the community by creating one-stop-shop medical hub sites that also offered ancillary diagnostic and imaging services and convenient access for patients across the region. As a result of his foresight to invest in building an ambulatory network of more than 220 employed primary and specialty care providers, Mercy’s physician enterprise now touches more than 10% of the adult population of the entire Baltimore Metropolitan region. Today, over 270,000 Marylanders utilize Mercy’s surgeons and medical specialists and rely on Mercy Personal Physicians for their primary care needs.

Under Mr. Mullen’s direction, Mercy’s investment in quality and its growing financial strength enabled the development of the award-winning Harry & Jeanette Weinberg Center in September 2003 and the construction and opening of the $400+ million, 20-story replacement inpatient tower, The Mary Catherine Bunting Center in December 2010. During his tenure, Mercy acquired Stella Maris, central Maryland’s largest long-term care facility providing skilled nursing care, hospice, home health, and rehabilitation services, and developed Mercy Ridge, a 409-unit Continuing Care Retirement Center both located in Timonium, MD.

“Mercy’s success is attributed to our philosophy that physician leadership of our clinical programs leads to outstanding patient-centered care,” Mr. Mullen said. “Mercy’s culture of excellence and compassion is rooted in an environment where physicians feel the freedom to practice medicine in the way they know is best for their patients,” Mr. Mullen continued. “The selection of Dr. David Maine is a natural extension of our culture and philosophy. My focus over the next six months is to ensure a seamless transition as Mercy moves forward to succeed in an era of value-based care.”

“I am especially grateful for Tom’s ongoing mentorship and support during the transition and for his commitment to remain with Mercy as a Senior Advisor through December 2021,” Dr. Maine said. “Tom has left an indelible mark on the 145-year history of this great institution and his continued advice and counsel will be treasured by myself, Sister Helen, and our entire senior management team as we work together to build on Tom’s legacy for Mercy’s future.”