Mercy Iowa City officially becomes University of Iowa ‘Downtown Campus’

IOWA CITY — Although the skywalk spanning Market Street connecting portions of the historic Mercy Hospital campus Wednesday morning still boasted that 150-year-old name and its teal and white colors, a sign along the street below announced Mercy’s new owner and new name: University of Iowa Health Care Downtown Campus.

Sign and brand removal and replacement were among the changes underway Wednesday — closing day for the hospital’s $28 million sale to the UI, winning bidder of a bankruptcy auction for most of Mercy’s assets. UIHC administrators also held meet-and-greets and celebratory events featuring UI mascot Herky, the university cheer squad and therapy dogs.

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“Our first focus for the coming weeks is really going to be primarily to welcome our new colleagues and to ensure that patients continue to have access to the services that exist,” UIHC Vice President for Medical Affairs Denise Jamieson told reporters Wednesday.

“Going forward in the coming weeks, we're going to be talking to community members, we're going to be talking to patients, we're going to be making an assessment as to what services are needed,” she said of the 194-bed community hospital currently offering emergency care, heart and vascular care, birth care, general surgery, primary care and orthopedic surgery, among other services.

To a question of whether Mercy will continue to offer all those same services long-term, Jamieson said, "It's really too soon to comment on exactly what services are going to be needed in the coming weeks and months.”

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In bidding to buy Mercy, which filed for bankruptcy Aug. 7 after years of financial decline, the university also committed to spend $25 million over five years on infrastructure improvements. “There are things that will need to be improved and addressed, such as parking structures and electronic medical record,” Jamieson said.

Mercy’s electronic medical record provider — Altera — has agreed to cooperate with a transition to UIHC ownership, despite significant pushback for months. The goal is to get all Mercy patient records onto the EPIC system — the electronic medical record provider the university uses, Jamieson said.

Employee changes

The transition will add about 1,000 Mercy employees — including 45 physicians, 33 advanced practice providers, along with nurses and others — to the UIHC workforce.

In early January, the university offered jobs to about 1,100 Mercy staffers and 53 physicians — nearly all the doctors remaining from the 90-plus who reportedly worked at Mercy when it filed for bankruptcy in August. Those who accepted the offers will get their last Mercy paycheck Feb. 9. They’ll get their first monthly UIHC paycheck March 1.

And while not all Mercy employees were offered the same pay with UIHC as they were getting, the university has touted its “robust benefits package” — including health care, retirement plans, company contributions, vacation, sick leave and paid holidays. Those benefits, according to UI officials, up the value of a $60,000 base salary to $80,922.

“We're really proud of the benefits and the other opportunities that we provide as a university system,” Jamieson said. “And the employees will have access to those opportunities going forward.”

Although Mercy will maintain an “open medical staff” — meaning community providers can continue to practice on that campus — UIHC will remain closed, meaning doctors must be on the UI faculty to treat patients on its main medical campus 2 miles west.

Some UIHC faculty might start practicing on the former Mercy campus, Jamieson said, although the reverse won’t be true.

“In the coming weeks, we're going to pretty much keep things the way they are so that patients know where to get care, so that services are not interrupted,” she said. “But long term, we need a strategy for how we're going to provide care in the future. And we're really going to look toward the community and look toward our patients to provide that input.”

Patient changes

For now, the UIHC plan is to see patients at their preferred location — meaning patients who've been happy to receive care at the former Mercy site can keep getting care there.

“If you are a patient as a result of the Mercy Iowa City transition of ownership, welcome to University of Iowa Health Care,” according to a new uihc.org/downtown website launched Wednesday. “You can expect to receive the same high-quality health care.”

UIHC on Wednesday also updated the MercyIowaCity.org website with black-and-gold colors and an “Iowa Health Care” header — guiding patients to a frequently-asked-questions feature.

“This marks a new and exciting chapter for health care in our state,” Jamieson said. “This is an opportunity for UI Health Care to move toward a more integrated model of care, helping Iowans get the right care, at the right place, at the right time.”

The patient FAQ indicated some changes as Mercy transitions to the UIHC system — like how payments are made and processed.

“It will take some time to work through payment changes,” according to the website. “For now, you will not be able to pay for services performed at any of the former Mercy Iowa City locations via your UI Health Care bill through MyChart."

The university also reported operational changes will prevent it from accepting in-clinic payments for several months — and then it won’t accept cash payments “when in-clinic payments resume.”

“Going cashless in our clinics simplifies our operations and increases safety and efficiency for patients and staff.”

Angela Constantino, 30, said she was a relatively new Mercy Iowa City patient and liked the hospital for its community feel.

“I was pretty excited about Mercy, just because it was easier to get a human on the phone,” she said. "It just felt a little bit more personal.“

Constantino, though, said she also has a lot of respect for UIHC and its health care.

“They always do a really great job,” she said. “So hopefully it carries over but could still stay a little more personal.”

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