As one of the “Most Wired” health systems in the nation with the ability to access and share electronic medical records across facilities, it only makes sense that Sisters of Mercy Health System’s 100 communities in seven states should share one name: Mercy.
Beginning Thursday, Sept. 1, St. John’s Mercy Medical Center becomes Mercy Hospital St. Louis and St. John’s Mercy Hospital in Washington will be Mercy Hospital Washington. The local facilities will be the first within the Sisters of Mercy Health System to transition into the new identity.
“We owe it to the three million patients we serve each year to know us by one name,” said Lynn Britton, president and CEO of Mercy. “Adopting the Mercy name is not so much a change as a natural evolution. Our electronic health record has allowed our physicians and medical teams to coordinate care across facilities, communities and even states in ways that were never before possible. It has opened up a whole new world of more convenient and personalized care for our patients.”
Over the next year, Mercy facilities across seven states will transition to one Mercy name, including St. John’s Regional Medical Center in Joplin, Mo.; St. Edward Mercy Medical Center in Fort Smith, Ark.; and St. Joseph’s Mercy Health Center in Hot Springs, Ark.; and clinics such as Garrett Goss Clinic in Bentonville, Ark.
For patients, different names have long been confusing.
“The Mercy name is a tribute to the Sisters of Mercy who founded our ministry and led us to where we are today,” said Mike McCurry, president of St. John’s Mercy Medical Center, soon-to-be Mercy Hospital St. Louis. “By adopting the one name that has always bound us in spirit, we will make it easier for the people we serve to recognize we are one Mercy.”Â