Regents approve bylaws, renaming of Mercy as University of Iowa Health Care transition nears
A 150-year-old area hospital has a new name and is on track for its end-of-the-month transition.
The Iowa Board of Regents on Wednesday approved the University of Iowa's request to rename Mercy Hospital to the University of Iowa Health Care Medical Center Downtown. The board also approved the university's list of bylaws for the healthcare facility they won rights to in an auction in November.
The university will now operate two separate hospitals with two separate licenses, including the University of Iowa Health Care Medical Center located on Hawkins Drive near Kinnick, with a third set to be completed in North Liberty in 2025.
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University is retaining all Mercy employees, departments
Celebratory events are planned for next Wednesday when the Mercy name goes by the wayside. Current Mercy employees were given University of Iowa employment agreements at the beginning of the new year. They'll start getting paid and benefits from the university on Jan. 31.
General operations for Mercy will remain the same. The current structure includes four departments — medicine, surgery, maternal and child health care and family practice. The updated bylaws made no changes to those departments.
"Our primary goal is to make sure there is no disruption to patient services," Denise Jamieson, the UI Vice President for Medical Affairs and Carver College of Medicine dean, told the Regents in a report on Wednesday morning. "We want to continue the mission of supporting the community of the Iowa City region and make sure that patients can be seen and that there are no disruptions."
The Medical Executive Committee will oversee health care operations, evaluate progress and provide health care-related updates to staff. The committee will be comprised of the heads of the four departments, the four officers of the downtown medical center — the president, president-elect, secretary-treasurer and immediate past president — and three at-large members elected by their peers.
University of Iowa tightens healthcare branding
Broad rebranding has swept through the UI Health Care system as 2024 gets underway. The UI Hospitals & Clinics, formerly known as UIHC, have been rebranded as the UI Health Care Medical Center.
After a dramatic saga that began with Mercy Hospital filing for bankruptcy in August of 2023, the University of Iowa acquired control of Mercy Hospital and its adjacent clinics, narrowly outbidding Texas-based Preston Hollow Community Capital in a revised auction for the rights in late October.
The bankruptcy court then approved the sale of Mercy to the UI in early November for $28 million, a value that fell $1 million short of Preston Hollow's bid. The UI pledged to make infrastructural and technological improvements and provide relative certainty regarding job security and operations at the hospital.
The Regents also approved a set of bylaws for employees of the downtown facility. The rules and regulations are set to closer align with the university’s system, Jamieson said but they do differ, especially in one key area.
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Closed vs. open medical facilities
Mercy has traditionally been staffed as an open medical facility, while University of Iowa hospitals are closed facilities. A closed facility means high-level medical staff like surgeons and doctors must be faculty with the Carver College of Medicine to work for UI hospitals. Doctors and surgeons are not required to be tied to the Carver College of Medicine in open facilities like the downtown hospital.
"The bylaws contain only those changes necessary to align the two medical staffs so that they can share information and have some common processes," Joseph Clamon told the Regents.
Clamon is the associate vice president for legal affairs for the University of Iowa Health Care system.
"Any future proposed changes will take into account the different natures of the hospitals, of open and closed staffs and different purposes," he said. "It will involve input from both medical staffs at both locations, the Clinical Systems Committee, the President of the University of Iowa, and of course, you, the Iowa Board of Regents."
Ryan Hansen covers local government and crime for the Press-Citizen. He can be reached at rhansen@press-citizen.com or on X, formerly known as Twitter, @ryanhansen01.
This article originally appeared on Iowa City Press-Citizen: Mercy will be known as University of Iowa Health Care Medical Center Downtown
