Packnett resigns as CEO of Mercy Health Center in OKC to head

Journal Record, The (Oklahoma City), Mar 29, 2006 by David Page

Michael J. Packnett has resigned as president and CEO of Mercy Health System and Mercy Health Center in Oklahoma City for a new job in Indiana.

He will be president and CEO of Parkview Health in Fort Wayne, Ind. Packnett was appointed as Mercy's president and CEO in 1999.

While this was a difficult decision to make, it represents several new opportunities for me, Packnett said. Parkview Health includes seven hospitals, an integrated medical group and other health services, and is the leading health-care provider in northeast Indiana.

Packnett will leave Mercy at the end of April. Interim leadership will be named by May 1. The Sisters of Mercy Health System will begin a search for a new CEO for Mercy Health System of Oklahoma and Mercy Health Center.

With the support of the Mercy-Oklahoma leadership team, we anticipate continued progress of all plans and activities currently underway, said Ron Ashworth, president and CEO of the Sisters of Mercy Health System, which sponsors Mercy Health System of Oklahoma.

Mercy Health System of Oklahoma includes Mercy Health Center in Oklahoma City, Mercy Memorial Health Center in Ardmore, and Mercy Health Network, a group of integrated primary care physician clinics serving the Oklahoma City area. In partnership with Oklahoma Cardiovascular Associates, Mercy Health System of Oklahoma co- sponsors Oklahoma Heart Hospital in Oklahoma City.

Packnett became president and CEO at Mercy when Bruce Buchanan resigned in early 1999. Packnett earlier served as president and CEO of Mercy Health System of Northwest Arkansas and St. Mary's Hospital in Rogers, Ark.

He has a bachelor's degree in business administration from the University of Central Oklahoma and a master's degree in health care administration from the University of Minnesota.

Packnett has been active in civic and professional associations in Oklahoma. In December, he was installed as chairman of the Oklahoma Hospital Association. He is a former chairman of United Way of Central Oklahoma's board of directors and in 2004 was appointed to the Federal Reserve Bank of Kansas City's Oklahoma branch board of directors.

The Sisters of Mercy Health System and our health facilities and services in Oklahoma have benefited greatly from Mike Packnett's leadership over the years, Ashworth said.

The Sisters of Mercy Health System, based in St. Louis, operates health care facilities in Oklahoma and six other states - Arkansas, Kansas, Louisiana, Mississippi, Missouri and Texas. Mercy is the ninth-largest Catholic health care system in the U.S. based on net patient service revenue.

Packnett was the second Oklahoma City hospital CEO to resign in less than two weeks. On March 16, Paul Dougherty, CEO of Deaconess Hospital, announced his resignation effective April 14 to assume the position of CEO of Mercy Medical Center in Sioux City, Iowa. Dougherty has been at Deaconess as CEO for nine years.