“We’ve had some of the most dynamic change over the last few years,” Groshans said. “These are informed by our Community Health Needs Assessment.”
Mercy Health — Springfield is part of a network of 48 Bon Secours Mercy Health hospitals in the U.S. and Ireland, and part of an $11 billion company.
Groshans said, according to unfinalized data, the hospital contributed more than $29 million to the community in Clark and Champaign counties in 2023.
One of these investments is a partnership between Springfield’s Small Business Development Center and the hospital to create a low-interest low program for small and minority-owned businesses.
While hospitals all over the country have shuttered birthing centers, Mercy Health is expanding its women’s health care services, Groshans said.
The hospital’s birthing center in 2023 experienced its highest delivery volume since 2015, with a close to 20% increase in births, the president said. He said about 10% of these births were Haitian immigrant patients.
With a growing Haitian immigrant population, Groshans said the hospital has been adapting how it provides care, adding translation and interpretation services in Haitian Creole, learning more about cultural and family values and overall “adjusting on the fly.”
This year, the hospital will open an Integrated Breast Center at the Springfield Regional Cancer Center, which is intended to support people with breast cancer diagnoses. The hospital is also affiliated with The Ohio State University Comprehensive Care Center – Arthur G. James Cancer Hospital and Richard J. Solove Research Institute’s The James Cancer Network (OSUCCC – James).
The hospital introduced an interventional neurology in 2023 to help diagnose and treat diseases in the brain, spinal cord, nerves and muscles.
It also expanded its stroke diagnosis and treatment capability, using a minimally invasive technology known as biplane angiography. This is aimed to reduce the number of stroke-related deaths and disabilities in the area.
Mercy Health Dr. Jose Rodriguez also recently reached a milestone by completing his 600th robotic surgery, which makes the hospital fourth in Ohio to do so.
Groshans touted the hospital’s new lung nodule program, which aims to reduce lung cancer deaths in Clark and Champaign counties by classifying a patient’s risk of developing lung nodules. This allows doctors to then appropriately evaluate and manage a patient’s care.
Around August, the hospital will open an oncology infusion center, which Groshans said will allow more people to access this type of care.
It will also complete work on the Springfield Regional Medical Outpatient Center, which has been converted into an ambulatory surgery center. This separates it from the hospital which lowers care costs.
“As a true ambulatory center, there are ways to restructure that to where that functions independently,” Groshans said. “It is a lower cost point of service for our patients, and it also creates avenues for alignment for us with our providers or our surgeons that will operate in that space.”
Groshans said Wednesday will be the 200th anniversary since Mercy Health got its start.
“It’s really dynamic to think here we are 200 years later, and this is the work that we are still getting to continue and bringing that community to the community that we serve,” Groshans said.
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