Ascension moves to national brand, launches marketing campaign

Ascension is launching its largest ever advertising and marketing campaign to rebrand all of its hospitals.

The national Catholic hospital giant is starting the rebranding at its hospitals and facilities in Michigan and Wisconsin, then gradually rolling it out to the rest of the country, said Ascension CEO Anthony Tersigni.

The effort, Tersigni said, is aimed at getting patients and employees thinking about Ascension as a system that offers care locally but with the clinical and financial backing of the nation's largest not-for-profit hospital company. Ascension has 141 hospitals and fiscal 2016 revenue of $21.9 billion.

Ascension also has reorganized into two divisions: healthcare with all its care delivery components and a solutions division that will house ancillary businesses, such as group purchasing, bio-medical engineering and venture capital investing.

Ascension Executive Vice President Bob Henkel is heading the healthcare division as its CEO, while the company searches for someone to lead the solutions division. Tersigni said breaking the businesses into two separate divisions (PDF) will clearly define leadership roles and promote growth.

“Adopting a unified mission statement and creating a clear and consistent identity reflect our collaborative national system and move us in this direction,” Tersigni said.

The branding campaign (PDF) that begins in Michigan and Wisconsin Tuesday will run for up to 18 months, said Nick Ragone, Ascension chief marketing and communications officer.

It will be fully integrated, meaning that Ascension will use a variety of media to raise awareness, including television advertising, radio, print, billboards, paid search and social media.

Under the rebranding, the Ascension name will precede generations-old hospital names such as St. John Providence in Detroit, Borgess in Kalamazoo and Columbia St. Mary's in Milwaukee.

St. Louis, Mo.-based Ascension has 15 hospitals in Michigan and 25 in Wisconsin. The operations in those two states account for 32% of Ascension's overall patient revenue. Ascension facilities are located in 24 states and the District of Columbia.

Ragone declined to say how much Ascension intends to spend on the national campaign. But it will be the system's largest ever, surpassing a giant Veterans Choice campaign that Ascension has been running for months to attract veterans who face long waits at Veteran Administration facilities.

Tersigni said the marketing campaign reflects new national clinical offerings that Ascension patients are beginning to see.

For example, Ascension is linking its hospitals, physicians and clinicians for services such as telemedicine, which can make clinical expertise available to patients wherever they are.

The Ascension Medical Mission at Home provides community health events that include free screenings, medical services, dental care and prescriptions for low-income families and people without insurance.

Ascension, which had almost $700 million of cash as of June 30, has been growing organically in its markets by opening ambulatory sites and through select acquisitions.. In the past year, the St. Louis-based system acquired Crittenton Hospital Medical Center in Rochester, Mich., and Wheaton Franciscan Healthcare in Glendale, Wis. Those two hospital acquisitions added $611 million of revenue.

“This is a significant time in the evolution of Ascension,” Tersigni said. “We are following the lead of our historic sponsors – the religious women and men who founded our health systems and hospitals – by adapting to changing needs and sharing our collective strengths.”