Ascension marks start of Ministry Health renaming with opening of Wisconsin clinic

Ascension Medical Group Clinic at Westwood

Ascension Medical Group has opened its first medical group practice in the country, the system announced this week. The brand-new facility, Ascension Medical Group Clinic at Westwood, marks the beginning of the naming transition of Ministry Health Care hospitals and clinics to Ascension, a massive rebranding that was first announced in September 2016.

"It is the first medical group to adopt the Ascension name in the country. Other clinics and facilities in Wisconsin currently under Ministry Health Care, as well as other Catholic systems under our umbrella, will be re-branded as Ascension in the coming months," said Nick Ragone, chief marketing and communications officer for Ascension.

[Also: Ascension rebrands, renames hospitals, splits company into two divisions]

The 48,000-square-foot central Wisconsin clinic provides the greater Wausau area with services including primary and specialty care, laboratory, diagnostic imaging, pharmacy and other services. Its pharmacy will be the first retail pharmacy to open with the Ascension name and will operate as a full-service outpatient pharmacy with mail-order and specialty pharmacy services as well, Ascension said in a statement.

Ascension's Wisconsin rebranding campaign, which is part of a nationwide rebranding, kicked off in September. Over the next year and a half, the healthcare systems of Ascension Wisconsin will all rebrand with the Ascension name. This includes Ministry Health Care, Affinity Health System, Columbia St. Mary's and Wheaton Franciscan Healthcare. All were formerly stand-alone systems that eventually were acquired by Ascension. These systems will be among the first in the country to formally adopt and transition to using the Ascension name, the systems said.

The nationwide rebranding campaign is starting in Wisconsin and Michigan, where the system said it has the biggest footprint.

Ascension is the largest nonprofit health system in the United States and the world's largest Catholic health system, with 2,500 sites of care including 141 hospitals and more than 30 senior living facilities.

Twitter: @BethJSanborn