Catholic Healthcare West, a big hospital operator in Southern Nevada and the fifth-largest health system in the nation, announced Monday it had changed its name to Dignity Health.
Dignity Health in the Las Vegas and Henderson areas owns the St. Rose Dominican Hospitals system, including the Rose de Lima, Siena and San Martin campuses. Those facilities opened in 1947, 2000 and 2006, respectively.
San Francisco-based Dignity Health said it adopted the new name as part of a governance restructuring in which it will be a not-for-profit organization, rooted in the Catholic tradition.
But it will not be an official ministry of the Catholic Church, a major change.
The system was founded in 1986 when two congregations of the Sisters of Mercy merged their 10 hospitals. In 1988, the Adrian Dominican Sisters joined the system with their St. Rose Dominican Hospital in Henderson — now called the Rose de Lima campus — and Dominican Hospital in Santa Cruz, Calif.
"The new structure and name enable the organization to grow nationally, while preserving the identity and integrity of both its Catholic and non-Catholic hospitals," the company said in a statement.
Dignity Health operates 25 Catholic hospitals and 15 non-Catholic hospitals in California, Nevada and Arizona and it said the restructuring will position the group to grow through partnerships involving both Catholic and non-Catholic organizations.
In the Las Vegas area, the St. Rose hospitals said in a statement Monday: "Our mission, vision and values remain the same, as does our commitment to providing the Henderson and Las Vegas communities with excellent care."
The statement also said: "These changes will have no impact on the operations, policies, or mission of St. Rose Dominican Hospitals. We will remain a Catholic hospital, sponsored by the Adrian Dominican Sisters, following the 'Ethical and Religious Directives for Catholic Health Care Services,' and committed to the overall health of the communities we are so privileged to serve."
Dignity Health said that while its Catholic hospitals would continue to operate under the Catholic Health Care Services religious directives, its non-Catholic hospitals would continue to be non-Catholic and would adhere to a "statement of common values. "