Although Froedtert Memorial Lutheran Hospital and Community Health has signed a letter of intent to partner with Columbia St. Mary’s Hospital in Milwaukee, it is not yet known if any jobs will be eliminated or who the top executive of the merged organization will be.
No job cuts have been decided by either organization at this point, according to Carolyn Bellin, chief public relations officer at Froedtert.
“We’re very early in the process,” Bellin told SBT. “This is not a done deed. Both organizations regularly assess their practices to assure their staff levels are appropriate, and they will continue to assess them. There is a lot of work to be done in the next six months. An evaluation (of staffing levels) will be part of that process.”
Bellin said the hospitals also have not yet determined the future roles of Froedtert president and chief executive officer William Petasnick and Columbia St. Mary’s president and CEO Leo Brideau.
Some local health care industry executives, who asked not to be identified, said they expect Petasnick to assume the top position of the merged organization.
One other point of negotiation – the future of women’s reproductive services, such as birth control – has been clarified, Bellin said.
Women’s reproductive services offered at either organization may not change much if a partnership is reached, she said.
Columbia St. Mary’s is affiliated with Ascension Health, the nation’s largest Catholic and nonprofit health system.
Froedtert does not provide abortions except to save the life of the mother, Bellin said. Under the proposed partnership, hospitals that are non-sectarian would remain non-sectarian, and Catholic hospitals would remain Catholic and observe those traditions, she said.
Based in Wauwatosa, Froedtert and Community Memorial Hospital of Menomonee Falls came together in 2001 to form Froedtert & Community Health, a regional integrated hospital organization with two locations and multiple program sites. Froedtert & Community Health is also affiliated with United Hospital System (St. Catherine and Kenosha Hospital Medical Center) in Kenosha.
In addition, physicians from the Medical College of Wisconsin provide radiation oncology, cardiology, perinatology, and pathology services for Community Memorial Hospital.
Columbia St. Mary’s is comprised of four hospitals: Columbia St. Mary’s Hospital Milwaukee; Columbia St. Mary’s Hospital Columbia in Milwaukee; Columbia St. Mary’s Hospital Ozaukee in Mequon; and the Sacred Heart Rehabilitation Institute in Milwaukee.
Columbia St. Mary’s is in the midst of building a new $417 million campus on Milwaukee’s east side that will include an 835,000-square-foot hospital, a 40,000-square-foot cancer center, two medical office buildings and parking structures.
