CLEVELAND, Ohio — Cleveland residents will soon no longer be able to receive inpatient care at St. Vincent Charity Medical Center.
The Sisters of Charity and St. Vincent Charity Medical Center announced a shift to focusing on holistic health for the East 22 St. property.
“Today is both a challenging day and one for the community, I believe, of hope,” Susanna Krey, senior vice president at Sisters of Charity Health System, said
The center, founded in 1865, will transition from a traditional acute care hospital into an ambulatory health services provider.
Beginning November 15, 2022, St. Vincent Charity Medical Center will provide ambulatory care as follows:
- Outpatient mental health services
- High-quality provision of addiction medicine services through Rosary Hall
- Primary care, internal medicine and specialty clinics
- Urgent care
Krey said a big reason for the change was the impact COVID-19 had on hospital services.
“There is such a significant shift from inpatient services to outpatient services to telehealth services,” said Krey.
Krey said St. Vincent Charity Medical Center will downsize from 700 caregivers to approximately 100 staff, including both clinical and non-clinical employees. She said they will be working with University Hospitals to find new jobs for the remaining 600 staff members.
The future vision of St. Vincent Charity Medical Center. (Photo Courtesy SVCMC)
“Since 1865, St. Vincent Charity Medical Center has weathered challenges, including the pandemic through which our caregivers served our patients and community with courage and grace. This deep commitment to serving our community through Catholic health care will continue as we transition to high-quality ambulatory care,” said Janice G. Murphy, MSN, FACHE, president and CEO of the Sisters of Charity Health System. “This transition puts the hospital on a financially sustainable path forward despite the rapid, significant and ongoing changes in health care today.”
St. Vincent Charity’s ambulatory health services are part of the new St. Vincent Charity Health Campus, which will also include services meeting a wide range of community-identified needs, including:
- Behavioral health
- Youth and families
- Food and nutrition
- Workforce development
- Physical activity
- Transportation
- Housing
- Learning and education
- Arts and culture
These program areas and the vision for the Health Campus were co-created by the Sisters of Charity, residents of Central Neighborhood and Cleveland-area institutions following a comprehensive year-long community voice and planning process that began in June 2021, according to the release.
Cleveland City Council President Blaine Griffin and councilmember Richard Starr released a joint statement expressing disappointment with the shift.
“The Sisters of Charity’s decision to end emergency and inpatient services will have an immediate and drastic impact on the health of Central and Ward 5, predominantly African American communities,” the release said. “The two zip codes surrounding St. Vincent Charity – zip codes 44103 and 44115 – have the lowest life expectancies of any zip code in Cleveland.”
Griffin and Starr said community health centers have been engaged and urged the Sisters of Charity Medical Center to partner with other healthcare institutions to assist potentially displaced workers.
“When I look at what the councilmen said about the zip codes in Ward 5, having some of the most challenging life expectancies, that is exactly the concern that we also share,” said Krey. “The whole healthcare community is beginning to recognize that even if you have a hospital and you can’t change the trajectory of life expectancy of the residents, we need to do something different.”
Patents are encouraged to check the center’s website for additional information about the transition of services.
