Bon Secours Virginia Appoints Thomas H. Auer, M.D., MHA,
Chief Executive Officer for Bon Secours Medical Group

Richmond, VA, July 20, 2007 -- Bon Secours Virginia (BSV) announced today the appointment of Thomas Harper Auer, M.D., MHA, as chief executive officer for Bon Secours Medical Group (BSMG) in Virginia. Dr. Auer’s appointment comes after an in-depth national search for the position created for Bon Secours’ health ministries in Richmond and Hampton Roads, Virginia. Dr. Auer will begin his leadership on August 31, 2009, reporting directly to Peter Bernard, chief executive for Bon Secours Virginia (BSV).

Working collaboratively with members of the Bon Secours Health System, Inc.(BSHSI) and BSV executive management team, Dr. Auer will be the catalyst to develop and support clinical integration activities that better align the interests and operations of BSMG with the interests and operations of BSV. In this position, he will partner with shared services including human resources, finance, information technology, quality, risk, billing/coding, and mission as well as the strategic growth effort for the following service lines: Heart & Vascular Institute, Surgical Services, Women’s and Children’s, Orthopedics, and Oncology. Dr. Auer will be responsible for providing a clear sense of strategic direction while implementing the vision of BSMG through leading the development and execution of a comprehensive plan, strategies, and a sustainable financial model designed to align physicians with the mission of BSHSI and the growth and development of BSV. He will be specifically addressing physician manpower planning, recruiting, and retention, with special attention placed on addressing the gaps in access to care across the region. He will provide leadership and guidance to BSV’s efforts to create and promote clinical integration and effective physician relationships in a delivery network that values both employed and non-employed physicians.

Dr. Auer is a board certified family physician and physician executive with over 30 years of progressive medical management experience. He has demonstrated strengths in leadership, innovation, health care system management, culture and change management, physician career development, and electronic medical record selection and implementation. Additionally, he has strong skills in communication, improvement strategies, customer service training, strategic planning, quality, utilization, financial decision making, re-engineering, leader development, and team building.

Dr. Auer comes to BSHSI with a long and distinguished career and most recently from Queens Long Island Medical Group, P.C. in Garden City, New York, where he serves as chief medical officer (CMO). In this position, he was the first CMO to establish and implement a comprehensive Clinical and Medical Affairs Master development plan for a 320 physician multi-specialty medical group with organizational revenues under largely capitation contracts at $300 million. He developed and led quality, risk and utilization improvement programs, facilitated the implementation of the Electronic Medical Record throughout the organization, developed a physician compensation plan in order to align organizational incentives and served as the senior physician leader to the operational managers of the organization.

Dr. Auer received his Bachelor of Science degree from Ursinus College in Collegeville, Pennsylvania, his medical degree from St. Louis University Medical School in Missouri, and completed a residency in Family Practice at Madigan Army Medical Center in Tacoma, Washington. He attended the U. S. Army War College and completed his Master’s Degree in Healthcare Administration from the University of North Carolina in Chapel Hill. After completing his medical training, Dr. Auer’s career includes various inpatient and ambulatory patient care and administrative roles in the U.S. Army. He was accountable for a 100-bed evacuation hospital and six satellite health clinics, serving a patient population of 51,000 military personnel and their families. As the Commander of Leonard Wood Army Community Hospital at Fort Leonard Wood, Missouri, Dr. Auer served as CEO of a 150-bed community hospital with 12 clinics responsible for providing care to 88,000 beneficiaries. His final military assignment was serving as Commander of the Womack Army Medical Center in Fort Bragg, North Carolina, a 200-bed inpatient facility with 50 outpatient clinics, a $128 million budget, and 2,000 employees.

After retiring from the Army, he served as medical director of Kaiser Permanente’s Capital Region Medical Group in Albany, New York, a 150-physician multispecialty medical group providing care in 13 locations. Dr. Auer merged the group forming a new group of more than 150 physicians. Dr. Auer led the selection and installation of AllScripts, which is now being used by more than 120 physicians in the practice. This experience, coupled with a project he is now completing at Queens Long Island Medical Group, is similar in character to the implementation of EPIC at Bon Secours.

Dr. Auer has served on numerous national and regional boards including the Eastern Division Board of the American Cancer Society and the Twin Rivers Boy Scout Council. Currently, he is the first vice president of the Guyanese, an American business and professional council.

Dr. Auer stated, “I am extremely excited and energized to join BSMG in Bon Secours Virginia because of the dynamic, forward-thinking leadership, sophisticated mission and palpable dedication to improve the health of the communities it serves.” Dr. Auer will relocate to the Virginia area with his wife, Patricia.


Bon Secours Health System, Inc. based in Marriottsville, Maryland, is a $2.6 billion dollar not-for-profit Catholic health system that owns, manages or joint ventures 18 acute care, 5 long term care, 5 assisted living and independent living and other facilities, primarily on the East Coast. Bon Secours Health System consists of more than 20,000 caregivers helping people in seven states. Its vision is to be recognized for its leadership in justice, transforming the communities in which it serves and works into places of health and hope, and being a prophetic voice for systemic U.S. health reform and a more humane world.