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In 1998 twelve religious congregations joined forces to ensure that the Catholic health ministry in the eastern United States would be maintained, strengthened and better positioned for the future. These women religious embraced the idea of co-sponsorship, developed trust in each other as individuals and committed to work together to sustain their combined ministries. Since coming together nearly nine years ago, Catholic Health East has accomplished a great deal of what our founding Sponsors had envisioned. We have realized so many of the benefits of "systemness." We have used our collective strengths and resources to pioneer new and creative ways to respond to community needs. We've better positioned ourselves to take risks and explore innovative approaches to health care which no one organization could have done independently. We've pooled our resources to improve our access to capital, attaining favorable interest rates that have saved millions of dollars in borrowing costs. While Catholic Health East has achieved much as a system, we must face the sometimes harsh reality of a dynamic and unrelenting health care environment where competition, technology, and reimbursement continually challenge our local health care ministries. Conditions are not static…circumstances and needs change. As such, our mission of being a transforming, healing presence in the communities we serve is constantly challenged. This past year, two of our ministries were especially challenged by their circumstances, and both experienced outcomes that will preserve their missions and continue to benefit their communities. Mercy Uihlein Health Corporation has been successfully meeting long-term care needs of residents in upstate New York for many years, but its future viability was threatened by New York State long-term care regulations which drastically under-reimburse this important service. The only solution: transfer ownership of the facilities to the local hospital, which could then raise rates to a sustainable level. Likewise, Pittsburgh Mercy Health System's Mercy Hospital found itself in dire circumstances where demographics, environmental dynamics and enormous capital investment requirements threatened the viability of the hospital. The local Sponsors and Board, together with CHE, analyzed all possible options and determined that the only way to maintain the acute care hospital mission was to transfer the hospital's ownership to another local provider. In both cases, critically important community services will be maintained and enhanced, and missions will be preserved. In the Adirondack region of upstate New York, access to long term care services have been preserved, and the original mission of the sponsoring community to meet the needs of local elderly residents will continue. In fact, pastoral care services will be maintained for facility residents. In Pittsburgh, a valuable acute care resource will be maintained for the community, and the mission of the local Sisters to serve the poor and elderly will be greatly enhanced by a new, $100 million fund created by the ownership transfer. In both cases, the Sponsors are to be congratulated for making what amounts to courageous decisions under the most trying and difficult of circumstances. In both cases, the mission of being a transforming, healing presence in the communities they serve has been preserved and enhanced…by the organizations transforming themselves into entities that best meet the current needs of their constituents. Recognizing the realities of the health care environment, earlier this year CHE management recommended and the Board and Sponsors authorized a Ministry Assessment process, an effort to balance long range financial goals with the continuation of the local missions. This process included assessments of mission, the environment, quality of care, and financial parameters. As a result of this process, RHCs were critically evaluated and assigned one of four challenges: grow in response to community need; pursue incremental improvement to strengthen the ministry; change service mix to reposition the ministry to assure its sustainability; or implement significant modifications to maintain viability of the mission. Thankfully, this process resulted in the significant majority of our ministries being challenged to either grow or pursue incremental improvements; the ministry assessment recommendations for these RHCs will be incorporated into their individual 10-year strategic planning processes. Those RHCs who were found to require either a change in service mix or other modifications will now be engaged in analyses and in-depth of their best options and strategies. I want to thank the leadership of all of our RHCs for devoting the necessary time, energy and resources to this ministry assessment process. It's not easy for any of us to take good, hard looks at ourselves. Few people welcome change with open arms. And nobody likes to make unpopular decisions. However, I'm sure you will all agree at Catholic Health East and our local ministries will emerge stronger than ever from this introspective process, reinvigorated and—together—better prepared to take on the challenges that await us all.
Sincerely yours,
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