St. Rose hospitals in Las Vegas keep church tie

Despite an overhaul by their holding company, Las Vegas' three St. Rose Dominican Hospitals will retain their Catholic affiliation and structure.

The San Francisco-based parent Catholic Healthcare West announced Monday that it would switch from church to secular control and adopt the new name of Dignity Health. Going forward, according to a written statement, Dignity would remain "a not-for-profit organization, rooted in the Catholic tradition, but is not an official ministry of the Roman Catholic Church."

However, the new structure allows subsidiary Catholic hospitals to continue as they have. A St. Rose statement said it would remain under the sponsorship of the Adrian Dominican Sisters and the authority of the local bishop and adhere to the moral and ethical guidelines written by the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops.

St. Rose officials could not be reached for further comment.

Until now, Catholic Healthcare West was overseen by a six-person group known as the Corporate Members, representing each of the six sponsoring congregations. The members, in turn, appointed an 18-person board of directors.

The change eliminates the members and creates a nine-member board, allotting two seats for nuns. Also, the secular hospitals, 15 of the 40 owned by Dignity, will follow a Statement of Common Values rather than a religious directive.

Dignity gave principal reasons for the move: the increasing age of those who have become nuns and the desire to expand beyond its current base of California, Nevada and Arizona. As it has sought new properties, Dignity CEO Lloyd Dean said, questions about religious control frequently surface.

"(O)ne of the things when we get down to what I'll call the real discussions as they (potential acquisitions) confer with their boards is, 'What does the future mean if we're a non-Catholic entity? Will we have to become Catholic? What will be the Catholic influence?' " said Dean, in an interview with Kaiser Health News.

Switching to secular control avoids that potential conflict, he said.

The St. Rose hospitals, the only nonprofit Las Vegas hospitals besides University Medical Center, have established a predominant market position along the valley's southern edge. The Rose de Lima campus is in eastern Henderson; Siena is in the center; San Martin is in southwestern Las Vegas.

Combined, they have 495 beds and admitted 13,240 patients through the first nine months of 2011. They had combined net revenues of $426.7 million and $153,000 in net operating income, as gains at Siena were offset by chronic losses at Rose de Lima and San Martin.

The Catholic affiliation goes back to 1947, when the Adrian sisters took over what had been the clinic at the Basic Magnesium plant in Henderson for $1. The clinic, built for workers on the site in World War II, was then renamed Rose de Lima.

Contact reporter Tim O'Reiley at toreiley@reviewjournal.com or 702-387-5290.