West Des Moines, Iowa-based Mercy Health Network President and CEO David H. Vellinga plans to retire in 2017, ending a 43-year career in healthcare. Mr. Vellinga is also a senior executive with Englewood, Colo.-based Catholic Health Initiatives (CHI) and Livonia, Mich.-based Trinity Health. Mercy Health Network is a joint operating venture between the two organizations.
Mr. Vellinga was named president and CEO of Mercy Medical Center-Des Moines in 1999 and he agreed to lead Mercy Health Network in 2000. For the next 12 years or so, he led both concurrently. In 2013, he dedicated his leadership skills to Mercy Health Network full time. During his tenure at MHN, he oversaw the integration of Waterloo-based Wheaton Franciscan Healthcare-Iowa into the network and led the transition of MHN to a new joint operating agreement with CHI and Trinity Health. MHN is comprised of 42 hospitals, more than 200 clinics and numerous other facilities and services.
Mr. Vellinga was also instrumental in forming the Mercy ACO in 2012. Today, the ACO has value-based contracts with Medicare, Wellmark Blue Cross/Blue Shield and a number of other payers.
A national executive search firm has been retained to help hire Mr. Vellinga's successor.