ROCKPORT, Maine — Longtime midcoast health administrator Mark Biscone will be retiring at the end of the year and his successor has already been selected.
The Board of Trustees of Coastal Healthcare Alliance, which oversees Pen Bay Medical Center in Rockport and Waldo County General Hospital in Belfast and their community-based health care services, announced the change of leadership in a news release issued Thursday.
Dr. Mark Fourre, currently chief medical officer at LincolnHealth in Damariscotta and Boothbay Harbor, will assume leadership of Coastal Healthcare Alliance at the end of the year when Biscone retires.
“An emergency physician by training, Fourre has a reputation as a strong physician leader at LincolnHealth, where he is viewed as both a talented administrator and a leading clinician,” the news release states.
Biscone has been the head of the health care system in Waldo County, which includes the 25-bed Waldo County General Hospital in Belfast, for about 33 years. Biscone was also named chief executive officer of Pen Bay Healthcare in March 2014, succeeding Wade Johnson. Pen Bay Healthcare and Waldo County Health Care merged into Coastal Healthcare Alliance on Dec. 1.
Pen Bay Health includes the 99-bed Pen Bay Medical Center in Rockport, the Knox Center for Long-Term Care in Rockland, Kno-Wal-Lin Home Care and Hospice, Quarry Hill Retirement village and Pen Bay Physicians & Associates, which consists of the majority of physician offices in Knox County. Pen Bay consists of more than 100 physicians and more than 1,500 employees.
A native of Minnesota, Fourre earned his bachelor’s degree from the University of Minnesota and his medical doctorate from the University of Minnesota Medical School. After completing his training at the University of Southern California emergency medicine residency program in Fresno, California, he began his career as assistant chief of emergency medicine at that same hospital.
In 1989 Fourre came to Portland and Maine Medical Center, where he developed the emergency medicine residency program and served as director and has worked in roles of increasing responsibility with MaineHealth members since that time.
“In Mark [Fourre] we get someone with experience delivering high-quality care through a network of health care providers. As we seek to maximize the opportunities of Pen Bay and Waldo working together, Mark is exactly the leader we need,” Carole Brand, a member of the Coastal Healthcare Board and chair of the search committee that selected Fourre, stated in the news release.
Brand said her committee conducted a national search and that Fourre emerged from a strong pool of candidates. She said the group was especially impressed with his leadership skills. In 2013 Fourre was elected president and chairman of the board of Community Physicians of Maine, an organization with more than 1,300 physician members in the state.
“Leading an organization like the Coastal Healthcare Alliance is an incredible opportunity,” said Fourre. “Both Waldo and Pen Bay have rich traditions of providing excellent care to their communities. Working together, they will be better positioned to meet the growing needs of the communities they serve.”
Bill Caron, president of MaineHealth, said Biscone has been a terrific leader as he oversaw the process of Pen Bay Medical Center and Waldo County General Hospital merging under a single board of trustees.