As the new year rings in, Dr. Mike Dacey will succeed Bill Downey as CEO and president of Riverside Health System.

After a career that spanned 40 years with Riverside, including a decade as CEO and president, Downey will transition into his role as executive vice chairman of the board and special adviser for the health system before he retires in 2024. Dacey joined Riverside in 2018, serving as chief clinical operations officer and most recently as president and chief operating officer.

Working alongside Downey for the past four years, Dacey recognized his predecessor as a storied health care leader whose many accomplishments at Riverside will continue to benefit patients for years to come.

“He leaves the entire health system extremely well-positioned for continued growth and excellence in patient and resident care,” Dacey said. “We have an outstanding group of clinical leaders, providers, nurses and team members with a shared goal of continually improving the patient and consumer experience by delivering high quality, affordable care.”

A graduate of Providence College with a bachelor’s degree in biology and of George Washington University School of Medicine and Health Sciences, Dacey completed an internal medicine residency at Walter Reed Army Medical Center followed by a critical medicine fellowship at the University of Pittsburgh Medical Center. He earned his master’s degree in health care management from the Harvard School of Public Health.

A Rhode Island native, Dacey worked as critical care service line chief, chief medical officer and hospital president at Care New England Health System before he relocated to Hampton Roads. Dacey said he was afforded a great opportunity five years ago to join Riverside, a health system with roughly 10,000 employees.

One thing he said he learned during the pandemic was the need for better cooperation between health systems and hospitals with public health organizations and government.

While Dacey said both Riverside and Sentara responded well with vaccine distribution, he said more needs to be done along those lines. He said he looks forward to opportunities to work with public health entities in areas of rural health and infant/maternal mortalities, especially within Black communities.

Another area magnified by the pandemic is behavioral health, Dacey said.

“It’s been under-addressed on a national basis forever,” he said.

He noted Riverside’s Behavioral Health Center in Hampton has undergone internal reconfigurations including private rooms, increased capacity and a host of new outpatient programs.

Stressing the acute shortage of health care workers — primarily nurses and support services — and the challenges of recruitment and retention, Dacey said Riverside has tried to make itself attractive in terms of benefits, paid time off and compensation.

“We’re now competing with other employers who pay at or more than we do for support service areas,” Dacey said. “Health care didn’t used to compete with Amazon and other companies, but now we do …”

Along those lines, Dacey said Riverside leaders are trying to grow the health system through increased medical education with an internal medicine residency. The goal is incentivizing physicians to train and stay in the region and research components with clinical trials to give patients access to leading-edge advances in health care.

Sandra J. Pennecke, 757-652-5836, sandra.pennecke@insidebiz.com