Daniel Schmidt

Vice President

Dan Schmidt brings to Southwind clients more than 35 years of executive experience in physician practice management. As Vice President, Dan provides short and long-term executive project management, as well as strategic and operational services to Southwind clients.

Prior to joining Southwind, Dan was President of the Physician Services Group at Advocate Health Care, a large integrated delivery system in the metropolitan Chicago area. He was responsible for over 600 employed physicians and several ambulatory care programs. Dan was initially recruited into this position to decrease the operating losses from the employed physicians and develop a physician integration strategy for the health system. During his 11 year tenure, the annual operating losses decreased significantly. Recently, he also served as the day-to-day chief executive of Advocate Health Centers, a 175-physician multispecialty group practice with a large capitated Medicare and commercial patient mix. Dan was also involved in the development of the Advocate Clinical Integration Program, considered by many as an optimal hospital/physician integration model. He retired from Advocate in July of 2009.

At the Detroit Medical Center, the teaching affiliate of the Wayne State University School of Medicine, Dan served as the Senior Vice President for Ambulatory Services. He was responsible for a network that grew to over 300 employed physicians. He oversaw the development of three regional ambulatory development plans, recruited over 70 primary care physicians, and served as the clinical executive for primary care and occupational medicine product lines. Dan also led the creation of a management services organization to manage employed, private and faculty physician practices.

Prior to the Detroit Medical Center, Dan was the Executive Administrator of the 425-physician Ochsner Clinic in New Orleans. He oversaw the construction of several major building projects and directed a large physician acquisition team which acquired 34 local primary care physicians with active practices. He was involved in the development of a new physician compensation plan, a major access improvement initiative, operational service standards, and an economic improvement program. Dan also had Ochsner Health System responsibilities for information systems, human resources, risk management, international affairs and managed care.

Dan spent most of his early career as President of Dean Medical Center in Madison, Wisconsin. During Dan's 12 year tenure, Dean Medical Center merged with another large group practice, began its own HMO, acquired numerous local physician practices, established various retail service lines and a network of urgent care centers, underwent several building projects, and experienced significant growth. Today, the Dean Health System has grown to over 500 physicians, and its health plan has approximately 250,000 members.

Dan earned a Master of Arts in Hospital and Health Administration, as well as a Bachelor of Business Administration with areas of concentration in Marketing and Management, from the University of Iowa. He is a Fellow of the American College of Healthcare Executives and has affiliations with Medical Group Management Association and the American Medical Group Association.