St. Joseph Mercy Health, Mercy Health hospitals to change names in major rebranding
The St. Joseph Mercy Health System and Mercy Health are changing their names as part of a major rebranding strategy their parent company, Livonia-based Trinity Health Michigan, announced Wednesday.
Eight Michigan hospitals and 320 other health care sites in the state will incorporate the Trinity Health name and logo as part of the rebranding, which will take place through 2023.
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"We are transforming our identity to assert our presence as one of Michigan’s largest health care systems, with a singular commitment to keeping our patients at the center of everything we do," said Rob Casalou, president and CEO of Trinity Health Michigan and Southeast Regions. "We are peeling back the layers to reveal a unified organization with a shared legacy and mission of service to the communities we're honored to serve."
The change will apply to the IHA medical group and Mercy Health Physician Partners, along with 22 senior living communities, three home health agencies, MercyElite Sports Performance and Probility Physical Therapy.
Here's how they'll be temporarily renamed:
Mercy Health Saint Mary's will become Trinity Health Saint Mary's, Grand Rapids
Mercy Health Muskegon will become Trinity Health Muskegon
Mercy Health Lakeshore will become Trinity Health Shelby
St. Joseph Mercy Ann Arbor will become Trinity Health St. Joseph Mercy Ann Arbor
St. Joseph Mercy Livingston will become Trinity Health St. Joseph Mercy Livingston
St. Joseph Mercy Oakland will become Trinity Health St. Joseph Mercy Oakland
St. Mary Mercy Livonia will become Trinity Health St. Mary Mercy Livonia
St. Joseph Mercy Chelsea will become Chelsea Hospital
IHA will become Trinity Health IHA Medical Group
Mercy Health Physician Partners will become Trinity Health Medical Group
St. Joseph Mercy Home Care and Hospice will become Trinity Health At Home - Southeast Michigan
Mercy Health VNS will become Trinity Health At Home - Muskegon
Mercy Health Home Care will become Trinity Health At Home - Grand Rapids
MercyElite will become TrinityElite Sports Performance
Probility Physical Therapy will become Trinity Health Probility Physical Therapy
Within about a year, the legacy "St. Joseph Mercy" and "Mercy Health" names will be dropped completely, converting the monikers to just Trinity Health plus the location, Casalou said.
So for example, Trinity Health St. Joseph Mercy Ann Arbor will become simply Trinity Health Ann Arbor. Similarly, Trinity Health St. Mary Mercy Livonia will become just Trinity Health Livonia.
The exception will be the Chelsea Hospital, which is owned in partnership with the University of Michigan Health System. It will retain the name Chelsea Hospital while logos for both Trinity Health and U-M will be carried on its signs.
The reason for the name change, Casalou said, is to unify the brand to make it clear to patients and the community that doctors and services are connected to a larger network.
"Our health system will build upon and embrace the strength of our national brand of Trinity Health, moving from a family of 25 brands operating within the state of Michigan to one unified system identity aligning with our national sponsor Trinity Health," he said.
Although cost cutting wasn't the driving decision to make the change, it will save the health system money, too.
"We've been carrying marketing costs and advertising costs and all the other expenses, printing signs and everything for like 25 to 30 different brands," Casalou said.
"Consolidating into Trinity Health is actually going to lower our operating expenses tremendously."
A new "We are Trinity Health" multimedia campaign also is to launch this week with a 30-second commercial.
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"Patients will continue to see the same doctors and providers they know and trust, backed by our specialists across Trinity Health who are committed to compassionate and high-quality care personalized to individual needs," said Dr. Rosalie Tocco-Bradley, chief clinical officer of Trinity Health Michigan.
Signs will be replaced outside hospitals in phases over the next eight months, followed by interior signs and printed materials through 2023, giving time for the health system to use up outdated letterhead and other printed materials to reduce waste and save resources.
That means for the next year, people may continue to see the outdated name or logo on billing statements, signs and other documents.
Trinity Health Michigan employs more than 24,000 workers across its eight hospitals, physician groups, three home health and hospice agencies and senior living communities.
The rebranding comes as other health care systems in Michigan also are undergoing massive change and are competing in an ever-tightening health care market as they grapple with staffing shortages, COVID-19 surges and a backlog of patients who have put off health care during the pandemic and now are sicker when they seek medical care.
Among its competitors is the newly merged BHSH Health, which combined the former Beaumont Health and Spectrum Health systems earlier this year to form the state's largest hospital system and Michigan's biggest employer with more than 64,000 workers and 22 hospitals.
Detroit-based Henry Ford Health announced its own rebranding effort in March, dropping the word "system" from its name, updating its logo and launching an "I am Henry" marketing campaign.
Henry Ford Health has more than 30,000 employees working across its five hospitals, as well as a 100-bed psychiatric hospital, a physician network of more than 1,200 doctors, and the Health Alliance Plan insurance company.
However, Casalou said, the plan to rebrand under the Trinity Health name is not tied to the changes other Michigan health systems have made in recent months.
"This rebrand actually started before the pandemic," he said.
"This is not a decision we're making in reaction that any other news ... about other mergers, ... Beaumont or Spectrum or the recent Henry Ford announcement. This is really on our own ... and it's something we felt we needed to do not for competitive reasons, but really to connect the dots for those that we serve."
Contact Kristen Shamus: kshamus@freepress.com. Follow her on Twitter @kristenshamus.
This article originally appeared on Detroit Free Press: St. Joseph Mercy Health and Mercy Health are changing their names
