Mercy (healthcare Organization) - Mercy Hospital Springfield Mo

Mercy is a not-for-profit Catholic health care organization located in the Midwestern United States with headquarters in St. Louis, Missouri. Serving millions annually, Mercy is the fifth largest Catholic health care system in the United States and named one of the top five large U.S. health systems in 2016 by Truven. Mercy was founded in 1871 by Sisters of Mercy as part of the communal support and developed as part of their mission. Currently Mercy serves communities across four states with 45 acute care and specialty (heart, children's orthopedic and rehab) hospitals and more than 700 physician practices and outpatient facilities. Mercy employs 40,000 emp loyees and more than 2,000 physicians.

History

The mission of Mercy comes from the teachings of Catherine McAuley, an Irish nun who founded The Sisters of Mercy in 1831. Mercy in the United States traces its roots to New York in 1846. In 1856 the Sisters of Mercy came to St. Louis and founded the Religious Sisters of Mercy of the St. Louis Province. Fifteen years later, in 1871, they opened a 25-bed infirmary for women and children. Over the years, the Sisters of Mercy expanded their health ministry in the Regional Communityâ€™s seven-state area: Arkansas, Kansas, Louisiana, Mississippi, Missouri, Oklahoma and Texas.

While the hospitals and other health care facilities sponsored by the Sisters of Mercy were not formally linked, as early as the 1960s they shared management and consulting staff resources.

In 1986, to position the individual hospitals for coming changes in health care, the Sisters of Mercy created the Sisters of Mercy Health System.

In 2011, Sisters of Mercy Health System renamed many of its hospitals and clinics under a singular brand - Mercy. Hospitals and clinics that used to be familiar as "St. John's Regional Health Center" are now named "Mercy Hospital Springfield" (Mercy - entity - location).

Locations

Mercy operates in four states (Missouri, Kansas, Arkansas and Oklahoma), with ministry outreach programs in Texas and Louisiana. Mercy's largest hospital complexes are in Springfield, Missouri and St. Louis, Missouri.

St. John's Regional Medical Center

On May 22, 2011, one of Mercy's larger hospitals, St. John's Regional Medical Center (now rebuilt and called Mercy Hospital Joplin) was seriously damaged by a tornado from the May 2011 tornado outbreak. At least four people were killed inside the hospital and its grounds, and surviving patients were evacuated from the health facility, which sustained major structural damage. One of the hospital's towers took a direct hit by the storm and was rotated four inches on its foundation.

Services

Mercy offers many services in the communities it serves. Including services such as cancer treatment, pediatrics, heart and palliative care. Mercy is also one of the largest facilitators of Telemedicine in the United States, opening the world's first Virtual Care Center. The Safewatch program was created in 2006 and currently serves over 420 beds remotely.

Mercy hosts one of the largest implementations of Epic, an electronic health record (EHR). In 2014 Mercy began to provide Epic support services to other healthcare organizations such as CaroMont Regional Medical Center and Oklahoma State University.