Dignity Health

History

Catholic Healthcare West was founded in 1986, when the Sisters of Mercy Burlingame Regional Community and the Sisters of Mercy Auburn Regional Community merged their health care ministries into one organization.

In 2010, Dignity Health, Blue Shield of California, and Hill Physicians Medical Group formed an Accountable Care Organization that covers 41,000 individuals in the California Public Employees Retirement System (CalPERS).

From the time of its founding until 2012, the company was an official ministry of the Catholic Church. In 2012, the company's corporate governance structure changed, moving it out of the Catholic Church's purview and resulting in a name change to Dignity Health.

Adeptus Health partnered with Dignity Health to establish the Dignity Health Arizona General Hospital in Laveen, Arizona.

In 2018, Dignity Health and Catholic Health Initiatives received approval from the Vatican to merge. The merger was completed, on February 1, 2019, under a new name, CommonSpirit Health, forming the second-largest nonprofit hospital chain in the United States.

Dignity Health was formerly the official health care provider of the San Francisco Giants.

Governance

Dignity's board of directors was responsible for approving major decisions affecting Dignity Health’s health care business, such as long-range strategic plans, the allocation of capital, joint ventures, and major acquisitions and sales. Dignity Health's Board of Directors are:

• Dr. Andrew C. Agwunobi | Berkeley Research Group, LLC
• Judy Carle, RSM (vice chairperson) | Sisters of Mercy of the Americas West Midwest Community
• Caretha Coleman (chairperson) | Principal, Coleman Consulting
• Lloyd H. Dean | President & CEO, Dignity Health
• Mark DeMichele | Urban Realty Partners
• Tessie Guillermo (secretary) | President & CEO, Zero Divide
• Peter Hanelt | Business Consultant
• Dr. Rodney F. Hochman | Group President, Providence Health & Services
• Julie Hyer, OP | Adrian Dominican Sisters

Sponsorship council

Dignity Health at one point owned and operated 24 Catholic hospitals. While overall fiscal responsibility for these hospitals rests with the board of directors, certain reserve rights are still held by the religious orders that founded them.

Dignity's Sponsorship Council comprised sisters from each of the six Catholic religious communities that first opened each of the Catholic hospitals owned by Dignity Health. Each community selected one woman to act as one of the six members of the Sponsorship Council. The six Catholic religious communities were at one point represented by:

• Sheila Browne, RSM, Sisters of Mercy of the Americas, West Midwest Community, Burbank, CA
• Lillian Anne Healy, CCVI, Sisters of Charity of the Incarnate Word, Houston, TX
• Maureen McInerney, OP, Dominican Sisters of San Rafael, CA
• Patricia Rayburn, OSF, Sisters of St. Francis of Penance and Christian Charity, Redwood City, CA
• Corinne Sanders, OP, Adrian Dominican Sisters, Adrian, MI
• Susan Snyder, OP, Congregation of Sisters of St. Dominic of St. Catherine of Siena, Taos, NM

Controversies

On December 21, 2010, Bishop Thomas Olmsted of the Roman Catholic Diocese of Phoenix declared that a Catholic Healthcare West hospital, St. Joseph’s Hospital and Medical Center, could no longer call itself a Catholic institution after a procedure was performed in 2009 to end a pregnancy to save a woman’s life. In a public statement, Bishop Olmsted said the procedure was in contrast to a direct abortion, which is in direct violation of The Ethical and Religious Directives for Catholic Health Care Services.

In a statement, St. Joseph’s President Linda Hunt said the hospital would comply with Olmsted’s decision, but she defended the actions of the hospital staff, stating, "If we are presented with a situation in which a pregnancy threatens a woman’s life, our first priority is to save both patients. If that is not possible, we will always save the life we can save, and that is what we did in this case. Morally, ethically, and legally, we simply cannot stand by and let someone die whose life we might be able to save." The story made national headlines.

Sister Carol Keehan, president of the Catholic Health Association of the United States, defended St. Joseph’s decision to terminate the pregnancy. "They had been confronted with a heartbreaking situation," she said in a formal statement. "They carefully evaluated the patient’s situation and correctly applied the Ethical and Religious Directives for Catholic Health Care Services to it, saving the only life that was possible to save."

In 2012, trustees of Ashland Community Hospital in Ashland, Oregon, invited Dignity Health to acquire it for debt. Community members raised concerns about the possible takeover, pointing to restrictions in Dignity's Statement of Common Values that might mean that the hospital would no longer offer abortion services, or euthanasia services under Oregon's 1997 Death With Dignity Act. Asked by Ashland mayor John Stromberg if the Statement of Common Values could be modified, Dignity Vice-President for Ethics and Justice Education Carol Bayley told community members, "As far as loosening it, don't hold out hope. We have our feet in Catholic mud, there is no denying it."

Dignity Health was included by California Attorney General Kamala Harris on the antitrust investigation, launched in September 2012, into whether growing consolidation in the state's hospitals and physician groups was driving up the health care costs.

As of summer 2018, Dignity Health did not provide many services considered routine by non-religious providers, including some emergency procedures. Dignity Health has cited the "Ethical and Religious Directives for Catholic Health Care Services" as its guideline in approving or refusing medical procedures. That document is prepared by the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops. A particular controversy results from Dignity Health's non-Catholic marketing style, and unclear representations of which facilities are and are not considered Catholic.

In August 2024, Dignity Health and Mercy San Juan Medical Center were sued for "malicious and outrageous" conduct by the family of Jessie Peterson. They had been told in April 2023 that Peterson had checked out of the hospital, when in fact she had died in the care of Mercy San Juan. The hospital had then shipped Peterson's body to a storage facility, and did not inform her family. The family did not learn of Peterson's death until April 2024. When Peterson's body was recovered, it was too decayed to determine if her death was the result of medical malpractice.

Hospitals

Dignity Health operates 40 hospitals—24 Catholic and 15 non-Catholic:

References

References

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2. "Dignity Health History".
3. (2017-12-08). "Dignity Health merging with Colorado's Catholic Health Initiatives".
4. (2013-05-08). "Accountable Care Organization Featuring Shared Global Risk Stimulates Development of Initiatives To Improve Care, Reduces Inpatient Use and Costs". Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality.
5. Gamble, Molly. (23 January 2012). "Catholic Healthcare West is Now Dignity Health".
6. (2012-01-25). "Catholic Healthcare West becomes Dignity Health".
7. "Dignity Governance Press Release".
8. [http://www.beckershospitalreview.com/hospital-transactions-and-valuation/dignity-health-adeptus-health-announce-joint-venture.html Dignity Health, Adeptus Health announce joint venture]. Shannon Barnet. October 23, 2014. Becker's. December 8, 2015.
9. (2018-10-16). "CHI-Dignity merger cleared by Vatican".
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11. (2019-05-03). "The steep challenge facing Chicago's newest health care giant".
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16. "Ethical and Religious Directives for Catholic Health Care Services, United States Conference of Catholic Bishops, November 2009".
17. "Ariz. hospital loses Catholic status over abortion case - USATODAY.com".
18. "Hospital Stripped of Catholic Status After Abortion".
19. "Catholic Health Association defies Phoenix bishop over abortion case".
20. "Dignity Health Statement of Common Values". Dignity Health.
21. "Abortion, physician-assisted suicide dominate forum". Ashland Daily Tidings.
22. "Dignity Health ends deal with Ashland Community Hospital". Ashland Daily Tidings.
23. Mathews, Anna Wilde. ( September 18, 2012). "Dignity Health included in AG's inquiry". Ashland Daily Tidings (Reprinted from Wall Street Journal).
24. Hiltzik, Michael. (2016-01-11). "Here's another case of a Catholic hospital interfering with patient care". Los Angeles Times.
25. (2009). "Ethical and Religious Directives for Catholic Health Care Services". United States Conference of Catholic Bishops.
26. Hafner, Katie. (2018-08-10). ["As Catholic Hospitals Expand, So Do Limits on Some Procedures"](https://www.nytimes.com/2018/08/10/health/catholic-hospitals-procedures.html). New York Times.
27. Wu, Daniel. (21 August 2024). "She died in a hospital. Her mom wasn’t told for a year, lawsuit alleges.". [[The Washington Post]].
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29. [http://www.bizjournals.com/phoenix/stories/1999/12/06/daily35.html Chandler Regional, Catholic Healthcare merge complete]
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31. Ellison, Ayla. (2020-11-05). "2 Arizona hospitals join Dignity Health".
32. (1 April 2004). "Two Hospitals Sold to Healthcare Company".
33. (22 February 1996). "Catholic Chain to Buy 2 Southland Hospitals".