Combining the Highest Quality of Care with Community Outreach

St. Elizabeth Healthcare is a special part of the community. Everyone – patients and employees alike – are treated like family. This comfortable and warm atmosphere is based on the highest degree of professionalism and a sincere desire to strive for excellence every day.

In 2012, St. Elizabeth was approved as a member of the Mayo Clinic Care Network. “This is not an award,” says Garren Colvin, president and CEO of St. Elizabeth. The provider proactively reached out and asked the Mayo Clinic to be a part of its network.

Being a partner with one of the greatest healthcare organizations in the United States gives St. Elizabeth the ability “to have access to the protocols and clinical pathways that Mayo Clinic provides to all of their member networks,” Colvin says. “We wanted to make sure we had the highest possible quality of care.”

What does that mean for St. Elizabeth’s? For a person with a rare condition, it means reaching out to a healthcare organization that has a global worldview. What might be a first for Northern Kentucky would perhaps be documented in other parts of the country. A doctor at St. Elizabeth can confer with a physician at Mayo Clinic through E-consult. 

Achieving this membership is no easy task. “(Mayo Clinic) is very protective of their brand and their reputation,” says Dr. Robert Prichard, Jr., senior vice president and chief clinical integration officer. “We had to submit a lot of information (approximately 1,000 pages) for them to determine if we were someone they wanted to affiliate their name.”

Mayo Clinic toured St. Elizabeth’s facilities as well as other hospitals in Greater Cincinnati. “They wanted to make sure we were worthy of being a market leader,” says Colvin. The Mayo Clinic affiliation stamps St. Elizabeth as the elite hospital system in the area.

At the same time that St. Elizabeth reaches out to global healthcare leaders, they also reach deep into their community. “One of the things that makes me most proud is the role we play in our community; from building homes for Habitat for Humanity to investing in the YMCA to investing in Northern Kentucky University,” Prichard says. “We are transforming ourselves as an organization that sees itself as a partner with its community that can provide health and wellness.”

Colvin adds, “We are investing in our community because our community invests in us.” When discussing St. Elizabeth’s 10-year strategic plan, he says, “Our vision is to make Northern Kentucky one of the healthiest communities in the country.”

When asked about expanding from Northern Kentucky to serve Greater Cincinnati, Colvin says, “I welcome anyone from Greater Cincinnati. If they gave us one shot, I assure you, we would gain their loyalty and their trust because their experience would be great and their quality of care would be great.

“We have the best people in healthcare who care about their patients. Our quality is extremely high, but our compassion is equally as high. We treat everyone like family because we believe that’s how you would want to be treated.”

For more information about St. Elizabeth Healthcare, visit www.stelizabeth.com.