Catholic identity to remain at Providence Hospital

Since its founding in 1937, Columbia’s Providence Hospital has been a Catholic institution, owned and administered by the Cleveland, Ohio-based Sisters of Charity of St. Augustine.

It is dedicated to Catholic values, from blessing employees’ hands and placing a crucifix in every room to refusing to perform vasectomies for the purposes of birth control.

On Monday afternoon, the ownership of Providence was scheduled to officially change hands when LifePoint Health Inc. of Tennessee completed its purchase of the hospital. The publicly traded company operates 70 other hospitals nationwide.

LifePoint officials say they are planning several changes at Providence’s main hospital on Forest Drive and at its Northeast location near I-77. But officials vow that the Catholic mission will remain.

“We’re doing a deep dive into the Catholic mission,” new Providence Market CEO Scott Campbell said Thursday from a modest conference room at the hospital. The room is adorned with a crucifix, a portrait of the Virgin Mary holding the baby Jesus, and a small bronze statue of Jesus washing a follower’s feet as a centerpiece of the table.

LifePoint’s plans for maintaining the hospital’s Catholic identify has been approved and will be overseen by the Bishop of Charleston, Robert E. Guglielmone, who will be on hand Wednesday for a blessing.

“There won’t be any change except a change of ownership,” Campbell said.

The arrangement is uncommon in the hospital industry, according to the Catholic Health Association of the USA, of which Providence is a member. But is isn’t unprecedented, a spokesman said.

“Changes in health care delivery often require hospitals and other providers to reconfigure how an organization is operated given local needs and the competitive landscape,” said Jeff Tieman, the association’s chief of staff. “This is as true for Catholic health care as it is for the broader field.”

He said each merger, acquisition and strategic alliance is unique in Catholic health care, arranged in consultation with the health care organizations involved, the diocesan bishop, community partners and sponsoring congregations and religious communities.

“The Sisters of Charity had as a main goal to ensure that the hospital continued to serve the community while also adhering to Catholic medical and moral principles,” he said.

LifePoint’s chairman and CEO said the company was looking forward to the arrangement.

“Under the previous leadership of the Sisters of Charity Health System, Providence Hospitals established a rich legacy of providing quality care and meeting unmet healthcare needs in the Midlands,” said William F. Carpenter III, the chairman. “We are excited to continue the hospital’s Catholic identity and proud to be partners in writing the next chapter of Providence’s history.”

Changes coming

While LifePoint officials say Providence’s spiritual side won’t change, several changes are planned on the business side.

The hospital, which has about 1,750 employees, said in a statement that it “will retain all employees, subject to industry standard pre-employment screenings. It is the goal to make this transaction as seamless as possible.”

Among the changes already in the works:

▪  An initial investment of $8.5 million to revamp everything from beds to purchasing additional radiology equipment

▪  Expanding the hospital’s cardiology department, which is the institution’s hallmark.

▪  Changing its second facility — Providence Orthopedic Hospital in Northeast Richland — into a general community hospital.

▪  Widening its network of doctors as it provides more services.

▪  Conducting a strategic evaluation that could lead to further investment and possibly expansion of the hospital building.

Also, the 21-member board of trustees will eventually turn over, but some present members should remain.

‘Not afraid to pray’

Campbell, a 30-year health care professional, said the Brentwood, Tenn.-based company can maximize profits at the 77-year-old hospital by leveraging its corporate weight in the health care industry.

There is an economy of scale when it comes to making purchases of supplies and equipment, he said. The company has a high level of expertise in controlling expenses and maximizing returns. And it has more heft to negotiating reimbursements with insurance and government payers.

Campbell, the son of a Protestant minister, said LifePoint will help Providence “better navigate into the headwinds of health care.”

Joan Bumpus, for four years Providence’s vice president for mission and ministry, said those changes will not be reflected in the hospital’s holistic, spiritual and charitable approach to healing.

She noted that the hospital will continue to have mass four times a week, will retain a staff of nine chaplains and a Catholic priest, and will continue to operate a convent housing two Catholic Sisters on the main hospital’s grounds at the intersection of Forest Drive and Two Notch Road.

Perhaps most importantly the hospital will continue to embrace charity cases, amounting to about $9 million in care each year, she said.

“We’re going to welcome all patients,” Bumpus said, “and we’re not afraid to pray with them every day.”

This story was originally published January 31, 2016 at 7:01 PM with the headline "Catholic identity to remain at Providence Hospital."