Saint Vincent Health System: Making Our Business Your Business

Quality of care. Cost, reimbursement and the increasing number of uninsured. Ethical, religious and cultural issues. Life-changing services and technology. At Saint Vincent it’s our responsibility and mission to address these and many other issues every day. Why? Because they directly impact our ability to continue to deliver the finest health care services to patients and their families throughout our region. Our “Friends of Saint Vincent” Web page is designed to provide you with information that will help you evaluate issues impacting the health of our region and our nation. This site also includes information that will provide a better understanding of the Saint Vincent Health System mission and the role it plays in the community. We hope you find the site helpful, and we encourage you to visit it often for timely information on issues that can have an impact on your life.

Addressing the Needs of the Underinsured and Uninsured

In keeping with our mission, all people who enter our doors receive the highest quality care, regardless of their ability to pay. In fact, Saint Vincent provided more than $3.1 million in charity care through the Saint Vincent Community Care program and absorbed a loss of $6.5 million when caring for Medicaid patients in fiscal 2004.

Saint Vincent’s Economic Impact on the Community

As a non-profit health care organization and one of the region’s top five employers, Saint Vincent’s mission also challenges us to fulfill our responsibility to the community at large. An example of this is our important contributions that we made to the community in fiscal 2004.

Last year we provided jobs to more than 2,700 area residents. Saint Vincent’s economic impact on the community totaled more than $250 million in salaries, taxes and purchases. And we provided $12.5 million in uncompensated services and activities to the community. As you can see our responsibility to the community is great, and it continues to grow.

Ensuring Positive Governmental Support

At Saint Vincent we believe that receiving the highest quality medical care available is a right – not a special privilege. Continuing to provide this right depends, in large part, on working to maintain a positive, supportive political environment. We make it our business to do so, and you should too, because hospitals and health systems can’t do it alone. In the United States, you, the health care consumer, have the ability to make important choices about your medical care.

We encourage you to visit the links on this site, learn about the health care issues that effect you, ask us questions and participate in Saint Vincent’s online health care advocacy efforts. Please contact us online or call the Saint Vincent Office of External Relations at 452-7266 with any questions or comments you have.