Eight hospitals rebranding under Trinity Health banner

Photo: John Fedele/Getty Images

Trinity Health Michigan, based in Livonia, will be rebranding eight hospitals and hundreds of care sites across the state, which will all adopt the Trinity Health name and logo.

Mercy Health and Saint Joseph Mercy Health System, along with their employed medical groups IHA and Mercy Health Physician Partners, will adopt the Trinity Health name and logo. Included in the rebrand are 22 senior living communities, three home health agencies, MercyElite Sports Performance and Probility Physical Therapy.

Rob Casalou, president and CEO of Trinity Health Michigan and Southeast Regions, revealed the new brand identity in a video message to the community. In coordination with the announcement, a new "We are Trinity Health" multimedia campaign will launch this week with a 30-second commercial.

WHAT'S THE IMPACT

Trinity Health is one of the largest nonprofit, Catholic health systems in the U.S., encompassing roughly 26,000 physicians and clinicians across 25 states, as well as about 115,000 other personnel. 

The system expects the rebranding will enable stronger care coordination and result in less costly duplication, more effective nurse and physician recruitment and enhanced advocacy efforts, along with stronger overall growth and development.

Patients will continue to see their same doctors and providers, and will have access to specialists across the broader health system. 

The first hospitals to unveil the new signage were Trinity Health Muskegon – formerly Mercy Health Muskegon – and Trinity Health St. Joseph Mercy Ann Arbor. Signage replacements for the remaining hospital campuses will occur in phases over the next eight months, followed by interior signage and printed materials through 2023.

In most cases, legacy names will be featured on new signs to help patients and visitors become familiar with the new brand. Chelsea Hospital, a joint venture between Trinity Health and University of Michigan Health, will feature the logos of both systems.

During the transition, facilities will reduce costs by retrofitting campus signage and using existing printed materials. As a result, community members may see either legacy logos or the Trinity Health logo on billing statements, signs, and patient materials. Once the process is complete, the legacy names of St. Joe's and Mercy Health hospitals will be retired.

THE LARGER TREND

During the first six months of Trinity Health's fiscal year 2022, which ended on December 31, operating income fell by more than half due to labor costs caused by staffing shortages and wage inflation, according to financial documents.

In that six-month period, Trinity posted $295.8 million in operating income – down 58% compared to the $710.6 million in operating income logged during the same period a year earlier. And the figure for 2022 comes despite gaining $127.2 million on the sale of Gateway Health Plan.

The hit to the health system's operating income naturally had an effect on operating margins, which were 0.4%, down from 1.8% during the first six months of FY21. Trinity attributed this downward pressure on margins to "expense growth outpacing revenue growth, primarily due to pandemic-related labor costs."

All together, Trinity's net income during the period was $878.1 million, down from $2.7 billion during the same period the prior year.

ON THE RECORD

"As members of Trinity Health for 22 years, we are transforming our identity to assert our presence as one of Michigan's largest healthcare systems, with a singular commitment to keeping our patients at the center of everything we do," said Casalou. "We are peeling back the layers to reveal a unified organization with a shared legacy and mission of service to the communities we're honored to serve."
 

Twitter: @JELagasse
Email the writer: jeff.lagasse@himssmedia.com