Bon Secours Mercy Health announces that Patton Paul Smith, Jr. (Paul) will join Bon Secours Mercy Health as the Mid-American Group president, effective July 1, 2019. Smith will report to Dr. Wael Haidar, chief clinical officer, and Brian Smith, chief operating officer. He assumes the role from Mike Garfield, who announced his retirement earlier this year.
“I’m pleased to welcome Paul to Bon Secours Mercy Health. He has more than 30 years of progressive health care operations experience, delivering growth and transformational strategies across hospitals and health care systems, including investor-owned and nonprofit organizations,” said Brian Smith. “He brings to our ministry a strong work ethic, proven communication skills and the ability to develop and maintain productive relationships in the industry and the community, as well as strong business acumen.”
Smith will oversee all Mid-American Group operations, helping to continue the group’s strong foundation of innovation and excellence, while bringing best practices for efficiency and effective care delivery across the geography.
Most recently, he served as president of division III operations for Community Health Systems (CHS) where he provided executive leadership to division operations teams supporting 26 acute care hospitals in six states, with full profit and loss responsibility. He supported the execution of hospital strategic plans to produce growth, improvements in quality measures and patient satisfaction, operational and financial metrics and competitive position in the marketplace.
Prior to joining CHS, Smith was with Health Management Associates, Inc. (HMA) for 14 years, where he served as a vice president and as chief executive officer of Lake Norman Regional Medical Center in North Carolina. He consistently achieved quality and financial objectives at HMA and was awarded HMA Administrator of the Year in 1999 and the HMA Special Recognition Award in 2002 for achieving superior results.
Smith holds a Bachelor of Arts in business administration and marketing from Mercer University and a Master of Business and Health Administration from Georgia State University.
He and his family are relocating to Cincinnati.