St. Marys Healthcare independent ministry again – The Recorder

By ADAM SHINDER

Staff Writer

St. Marys Healthcares return to its former status as an independent Catholic healthcare ministry became official this week as the organization completed the final steps of its process of separating from the Ascension healthcare system, which St. Marys had been a part of since 2002.

St. Marys announced the finalization of its return to independent status in a press release Tuesday, and president and CEO Scott Bruce said in a phone interview Wednesday that he was excited for where the move will take St. Marys moving forward.

Its a big deal, Bruce said. A lot of time and work has gone into this on the part of the senior leadership team here and prior, too. Of course the board of directors here are very instrumental in making this happen, and a very cooperative relationship with Ascension at the same time.

St. Marys and Ascension announced in March the agreement that the Amsterdam-based ministry would return to its independent status.

With the move now complete, St. Marys board of directors will now be able to have a more immediate hand in the governing process.

Our board of directors, theyre excited to be engaged and working directly with senior leadership here from a governance perspective, rather than working with not only us, but Ascension as well, Bruce said. It will streamline things and have more of that decision-making right here in Amsterdam.

It also means a more direct line of engagement with the local community. St. Marys spokesman Rick Hyde said, Once were past COVID and able to participate in events, youre going to see a lot more of St. Marys.

Bruce added, Weve always tried to maintain that direct, active relationship with the community. I think it will be a little bit more direct now, and I think well be out even more, but weve really tried to maintain that even during this period as a part of Ascension. But, I would expect that to increase now.

The shift will also see a change in signage, letterhead, corporate documents, marketing material and the St. Marys website that move away from co-branding with Ascension.

Bruce, who was St. Marys vice president at the time the announcement was made and took over as president and CEO in July following the retirement of longtime leader Vic Giulianelli, said the final steps of the process included fine-tuning many of the organizational aspects that were handled by Ascension at either a regional or national level, including information technology and human resources.

Ascension is a very highly-integrated organization, Bruce said. Its not just a contractual relationship between us and Ascension. From IT to human resources to finance, all of those solutions here in Amsterdam were part of larger solutions that were sponsored by Ascension.

Bruce said that, as part of the agreement, Ascension would continue to provide some services to St. Marys for at least the next ninth months or so.

When the decision to return to independent status was announced in March, Giulianelli said it would take a full year for St. Marys to take over the 16 hospital systems provided either by Ascension or companies affiliated with Ascension.

St. Marys, founded in 1903, joined Ascension in 2002 when the Sisters of St. Joseph of Carondelet added their Carondelet Health System to the national health system.

The move for independence, Bruce said, was the best step forward for St. Marys.

This is a process weve been at for a while now, just trying to determine what was the best scenario for St. Marys here at the local level, he said. We just decided, with cooperation from Ascension, that the best path forward for us was an independent path.

St. Marys employs around 1,600 people and takes care of about 430,000 outpatient visits per year as well as a 150-bed nursing home.

A lot of time and effort on the part of a lot of folks here and St. Louis [where Ascension is headquartered] went into making this happen, Bruce said. I think were excited to have this part of it completed and excited to move onto our future as an independent organization and independent ministry.

Reach Adam Shinder at ashinder@dailygazette.netor @Adam_Shinder on Twitter.

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St. Marys Healthcare independent ministry again - The Recorder