IOWA CITY — The University of Iowa is one step closer to acquisition of the Mercy Hospital in Iowa City after the approval of bylaws that allow Mercy’s medical staff to continue practicing after the merger.
UI Vice President of Medical Affairs Denise Jamieson says the acquisition will be completed on January 31st. “Our primary goal is to ensure that there are no disruptions to patient care services. So we want to continue the mission of supporting the community of the Iowa City region and ensure that patients can be seen and that there are no disruptions,” she says. Jamieson says they have been working to bring Mercy staff on board and welcome them to the UI Hospitals and Clinics family. “And there’ll be some celebrations coming up. We are working with all vendors to transition services seamlessly,” Jamieson says.
She says UI personnel will be at Mercy Iowa City to help in the transition. “We’ll set it up like an incident command structure and have a presence on site starting January 30th, to troubleshoot any problems that may arise. And this will be ongoing until we’ve really met our objectives of a successful go live with minimal disruption,” Jamiseon says.
The Board of Regents approved the staff bylaws in a meeting Wednesday. The UI’s bid of $28 million for Mercy Iowa City was approved by the bankruptcy court in October.