By TERRY LYNAM //
I’ve known Michael Dowling since 1988, when I was working in the press office of former New York Gov. Mario Cuomo, who tapped Dowling to become his chief advisor on health and human services.
After Cuomo lost his 1994 reelection bid, Dowling landed at Northwell Health (in 1995, when Northwell was still known as the North Shore Health System). I joined him there about 6 1/2 years later to lead public relations, a few months before he became the health system’s president and CEO.
Since Dowling’s arrival 30 years ago, Northwell has gone from a two-hospital health system (North Shore University Hospital in Manhasset and Glen Cove Hospital) to a multistate network that will soon include 28 hospitals and a workforce of more than 100,000 professionals.
Dowling’s latest crowning achievement is Northwell’s merger with Nuvance Health. The deal, which received regulatory approval in early April from Connecticut’s Office of Health Strategy, will become official in the coming weeks.
It adds seven hospitals, several hundred outpatient care centers and 14,000 employees to Northwell’s existing network, which currently encompasses Long Island, New York City and Westchester County. It extends Northwell’s footprint into western Connecticut (the Danbury/New Milford/Norwalk area) and New York’s mid-Hudson Valley region (Poughkeepsie, Rhinebeck, Carmel and other cities and towns in Dutchess, Putnam, Ulster and Orange counties).
Terry Lynam: Big fan.
The Nuvance addition will make Northwell the eighth-largest health system in the country based on combined annual revenue of about $23 billion.
While he has created a behemoth, Dowling has long recognized that bigger is not necessarily better. Throughout his 23-year tenure as CEO, he has always kept the organization’s focus on its primary mission – improving the health of the communities it serves.
Unlike other large health systems, Northwell has never closed a hospital because it was losing money. On the contrary, under Dowling’s leadership, Northwell resurrected financially struggling hospitals like South Shore University Hospital in Bay Shore, Long Island Jewish Valley Stream, Glen Cove Hospital and Lenox Hill Hospital in Manhattan by investing in them and developing strategies to make them more competitive.
He plans on doing the same for Nuvance, which lost more than $200 million combined in 2023 and 2024. Northwell has committed to investing $1 billion in Nuvance.
In another example of his commitment to mission, mental health has remained a priority under Dowling’s leadership, even though health systems routinely lose money offering those services because of inadequate insurance reimbursements.
Northwell operates two psychiatric hospitals (South Oaks Hospital in Amityville and Zucker Hillside Hospital in Glen Oaks) and is investing hundreds of millions of dollars to expand pediatric mental health services for children and teens.
Dowling’s impoverished upbringing in rural Ireland influenced him to become a compassionate voice for the needy. His early career as a social worker and advocate for public policy reforms are what led him to the corridors of power at the New York State Capitol.
While the toxic political environment gripping the country has stifled the voices of many CEOs, Dowling remains a firm believer in corporate and social responsibility, speaking out on issues like gun violence, immigration, health disparities and climate change.
Recognizing the impact that education had in helping to pull him out of poverty, he has invested millions of dollars working with local schools and young people, introducing them to healthcare career opportunities that prepare them for rewarding, well-paying jobs – while serving as a pipeline for future talent for his ever-growing health system.
Lifeblood: The Northwell School of Health Sciences will prepare high-schoolers for healthcare careers — and prepare a future workforce for Northwell Health.
Among many initiatives, in 2022, he established Northwell’s Community Scholars Program, which pays 85 percent of college expenses for more than 300 low-income students. Later this year, the Northwell School of Health Sciences will open in Queens, offering specialized healthcare classes, work-based learning and other opportunities for high-schoolers to earn industry credentials and certifications that will prepare them for future careers.
Dowling’s work ethic, management style and personality remain largely unchanged from when I first met him 37 years ago in Albany. He’s never strayed from the principles that defined his early years growing up in the tiny County Limerick village of Knockaderry – or the personal drive and vision that would later enable him to transform Northwell into a $23 billion clinical, academic and research cornerstone.
He’s had a remarkable 50-year career in healthcare, public service and academia. The Nuvance merger and Northwell’s northern and western expansions are just the latest testaments to his incredible foresight.
Terry Lynam is a communications consultant and former senior vice president/chief public relations officer for Northwell Health.
