Franciscan Alliance system rebrands, drops saint names from hospitals
Officials expect the move to enhance healthcare quality and cost effectiveness.
Franciscan St. Anthony Health in Crown Point, Indiana will be renamed as Franciscan Health Crown Point.
The Franciscan Alliance health system will change its name to Franciscan Health and drop names of Catholic saints from 12 of its 14 hospitals, the Indiana-based health system announced this week.
The change will take place on Sept. 12.
Franciscan St. Anthony Health Crown Point will become Franciscan Health Crown Point, Franciscan St. Elizabeth Health Crawfordsville will become Franciscan Health Crawfordsville, and so on. Franciscan Health Munster and Franciscan Health Rensselaer will retain their current names, which are consistent with the new protocol. The full list of renamed hospitals is available on the system's website.
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According to the Catholic health system, the "refinement" of the hospital names "reinforces and reflects an integrated and aligned approach, better able to project the strength and resources of the Franciscan Alliance system, ultimately improving patient safety, patient satisfaction and the quality of care."
Franciscan Health serves more than 1.3 million patients throughout Indiana, Illinois and Michigan each year.
The system said the move will better align the organization's facilities. While Franciscan Alliance has always been a large system, it hasn't previously emphasized its shared capabilities. Officials expect then move to enhance healthcare quality and cost effectiveness, saying that broad system-wide awareness will better enable the system –- and each of its hospitals –- to attract the best clinicians and staff.
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Sister Jane Marie Klein, O.S.F., chairwoman of the Franciscan Alliance Board of Trustees, said in a statement that the new names retain and reflect the heritage and identity of the founding Sisters of St. Francis of Perpetual Adoration.
"The evolution of our hospital names is important because it further underscores the combined strength of our system, offering patients and their families a full continuum of high-quality, compassionate care," she said. "Franciscan Health, like Franciscan Alliance, creates a unified and memorable name acknowledging our faith-based mission: continuing Christ's ministry in our Franciscan tradition."
Kevin Leahy, president and CEO of Franciscan Alliance, said in a statement that the unified names "will create broader awareness of our standing as a large, multistate Catholic healthcare system."
Twitter: @JELagasse
