Stephen E. Thorne IV

Stephen E. Thorne IV, BA, MHA, is Founder and Chief Executive Officer of PDS Health, a leading integrated healthcare support organization that provides business support services to over 1,000 dental and primary care practices located in major market areas across the United States.

Mr. Thorne entered the dental industry in 1989 after his father, a dentist, offered him a job managing a struggling dental office. His success in turning that office around led to opportunities to manage several more offices. This experience paved the way for him to establish his own company, Pacific Dental Services, in 1994. For three decades, Pacific Dental Services has been at the forefront of the oral healthcare industry, dedicated to enhancing patient outcomes in communities across the country through clinical excellence and proven technology.

In 2024, the company was renamed PDS Health, a change that reflects its evolution from its origins in dental support to becoming a leader in healthcare innovation. PDS Health aims to revolutionize patient care through the integration of dental and medical services to improve patient outcomes and reduce overall healthcare costs. As a leading provider of integrated healthcare support, it delivers a broad spectrum of support services to dental, dental specialty, and primary care providers, enhancing operations and care delivery for clinicians across the U.S.

Through Mr. Thorne’s leadership, PDS Health has become a prominent authority on the Mouth-Body Connection® (oral-systemic link), working to highlight the growing need for better collaboration between dental and medical professionals to improve patient outcomes and reduce overall healthcare costs. PDS Health was the first large dental organization to integrate Epic®, the largest electronic health records system in the U.S., into its supported dental practices, a bold strategic move that demonstrated its commitment to bringing dental-medical integration to life. All organizations using Epic can easily exchange patient data, improving care coordination, reducing duplication, eliminating guesswork, and closing care gaps between providers.

Mr. Thorne’s influence extends beyond PDS Health to the wider health care industry. He was instrumental in forming the Association of Dental Support Organizations (ADSO), which represents some of the largest DSOs in the world; he served as the founding President for the first three years and currently sits on the organization’s Executive Committee. Mr. Thorne also serves on the Santa Fe Group’s Strategic Advisory Council, which is comprised of trusted healthcare scholars and professionals focused on expanding oral healthcare access to aging Americans.

Mr. Thorne also lends his expertise to academia. He is a member of the Harvard School of Dental Medicine’s Initiative Board, where he helps drive the group’s ambitious agenda to integrate oral health and medicine, and serves on the High Point University Workman School of Dentistry Board of Advisors.

In addition, Mr. Thorne is an active member of the boards of several prestigious research institutes both domestically and internationally. He serves on the Board of Directors for the ADA Forsyth Institute, one of the only independent research institutes in the United States focusing on the connections between oral health and overall wellness. Mr. Thorne is also a member of the Scientific Advisory Board of the DMS German Mouth-Health Foundation (Deutsche MundgesundheitsStiftung), based in Solingen, Germany.

Mr. Thorne graduated from the University of California Los Angeles in 1989 with a degree in business economics. In 1994 he earned his master’s degree in Health Administration from Chapman University. In 2016 he was awarded the honorary degree of Doctor of Humane Letters from A.T. Still University, the world’s first osteopathic medical school. Mr. Thorne and his wife Pam have been married for more than 30 years and currently reside in Nevada. Together, they have seven children and eight grandchildren.