USA Health Care Authority enters agreement with Ascension to acquire Providence Health System

The University of South Alabama Health Care Authority has entered into an agreement with St. Louis-based Ascension to acquire Providence Hospital and its clinics in a transaction that will enhance the Mobile community’s access to high-quality healthcare.

“The values shared by USA Health and Providence make the acquisition a good fit,” said University of South Alabama President Jo Bonner. “USA Health and Providence have long shared a commitment to provide compassionate care to those who need it the most, and that core value will not change.”

Under this agreement, Providence Hospital will join the University of South Alabama’s academic health system recognized for its outstanding service to patients and the community, including operating a Level I trauma center, comprehensive stroke center, burn center, Level III NICU, center for maternal-fetal medicine, cancer institute, and also functioning as a superior research and education facility. USA Health is the only academic health system on the upper Gulf Coast.

“Ascension Providence has a legacy of serving the healthcare needs of the community that dates back to the mid-1800s. We are pleased that this strong tradition will continue as the hospital and its related services transition to USA Health, which will allow associates and physicians to continue to serve the community through an integrated care delivery system,” said Don King, president and CEO of Ascension Florida and Gulf Coast. “This transition will ensure that the Mobile community and surrounding regions have sustainable, quality healthcare access long into the future.”

Continuity of care for patients is a top priority for USA Health and Ascension Providence. Both are committed to creating a smooth transition for patients, physicians, providers and associates, with no disruption in services or procedures.

“Acquiring Providence Health System will allow us to enhance our capabilities across our tripartite mission of education, research and clinical care,” said John V. Marymont, M.D., M.B.A., vice president for medical affairs and dean of the Frederick P. Whiddon College of Medicine at the University of South Alabama. “The acquisition will create jobs and opportunities for more people across a wide spectrum to bolster Mobile and the surrounding area. It now gives Providence the benefit of local leadership and enhances our commitment to serve this community.”

The University of South Alabama Healthcare Authority will acquire the 349-bed Providence Hospital facility and its related sites of care, including the physician practices of Ascension Medical Group. The hospital is a full-service facility with 24/7 emergency care, a Level III trauma center, outpatient diagnostic center, and a freestanding rehabilitation and wellness center.

The acquisition is expected to close in the fall of 2023. Until that time, USA and Providence Hospital will continue to operate independently.

“We welcome the opportunity to work with our colleagues at Providence to provide outstanding patient care,” said Owen Bailey, M.S.H.A., FACHE, USA Health chief executive officer and senior associate vice president for medical affairs. “This agreement is good news for patients, employees, the Mobile community and the surrounding region.”

Members of the senior leadership of the university and USA Health will be on hand at town halls to discuss the acquisition and answer questions:

Children's & Women's Hospital: Atlantis Room
Thursday, April 20, at 11 a.m.
Zoom link: https://southalabama.zoom.us/j/91040021594
Meeting ID: 910 4002 1594 

University Hospital: Conference Center
Thursday, April 20, at 1 p.m.
Zoom link: https://southalabama.zoom.us/j/91040021594
Meeting ID: 910 4002 1594 

Main Campus: Laidlaw Recital Hall
Thursday, April 20, at 3 p.m.

Strada Patient Care Center: Conference Center, Room 1011
Monday, April 24, at 5:15 p.m.

Mitchell Cancer Institute: Main Lobby
Wednesday, April 26, at 5:15 p.m.

 Dates and times for additional town halls will be announced at a later date.

Alpha Omega Alpha Honor Medical Society inducts new members

Fifteen senior medical students from the Frederick P. Whiddon College of Medicine were inducted into the Beta Chapter of the Alpha Omega Alpha Honor Medical Society at a banquet held April 13 at the Faculty Club.

Students inducted from the Class of 2023, pictured from left to right:

• Rennan S. Zaharias
• Sarah Elizabeth Fillingim
• MengJie Hu
• Matthew Ryan Joyner
• Natalie Marie Kidd
• Hunter E. Lucas
• Jeffrey Clay Krout
• Veena Bharadwaj Krishnan
• Trista Diane Phelps
• Jesse Lowell Stutzman
• Jacob M. Williams
• Emily Paige Elliott
• Kasey Grant Andrews
• Maria-Camila Ochoa
• Donavon Jared Dahmer

Also elected to membership and inducted were Antwan Hogue, M.D., a 2012 alumnus and assistant professor of internal medicine at the Whiddon College of Medicine; Brian Fouty, M.D., professor of internal medicine and director of the pulmonary and critical care division; and John Murfee, M.D., a fourth-year surgery resident.

AΩA, a professional medical organization, recognizes and advocates for excellence in scholarship and the highest ideals in the profession of medicine. Membership may be attained as a medical student, resident, fellow, faculty member, alumni, clinician, or distinguished leader in medicine. Each school may elect up to 20% of the graduating class of students for membership. 

Take a break on Earth Day

Faculty, staff and students are invited to enjoy an Earth Day break from 10 a.m. to noon on Friday, April 21. 

Tables and planting supplies will be set up on the sidewalk between the Medical Sciences Building and the Small Group Learning Center. Spruce up your department's plants and flowers, or start some new plants for your office. 

Researchers explore how spotted fever pathogen infects cat fleas

Hanna J. Laukaitis, Ph.D., and Kevin Macaluso, Ph.D., studied a pathogen that causes spotted fever.

Scientists at the Frederick P. Whiddon College of Medicine have investigated how an insect-borne pathogen that causes spotted fever infects cat fleas, which can transmit the bacterium to pets and humans.

The research was published in the scientific journal PLoS Pathogens in December 2022 in an article titled “Transposon mutagenesis of Rickettsia felis sca1 confers a distinct phenotype during flea infection.” Hanna J. Laukaitis, Ph.D., a 2022 alumna of the Basic Medical Sciences Graduate Program at the Whiddon College of Medicine and a current postdoctoral fellow at the University of Maryland School of Medicine in Baltimore, was the lead author.

Laukaitis and her collaborators at the University of Minnesota created a mutant form of the pathogen Rickettsia felis to better understand how it infects the cat flea. The flea, Ctenocephalides felis, acts as a vector, or carrier, of the bacterium and can transmit it to pets and humans. 

About 5,500 human cases of rickettsial infection in the United States are reported annually to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Infection can produce mild to severe, flu-like symptoms in people, and there is currently no vaccine to prevent it.

“We used gene editing to explore what R. felis uses to infect its vectors,” said Kevin Macaluso, Ph.D., professor and Locke Distinguished Chair of microbiology and immunology at the Whiddon College of Medicine and a co-author of the article. “We were able to identify a factor in the pathogen necessary for flea transmission.”

Macaluso said that altering the genetic sequence in R. felis resulted in significantly reduced pathogen loads during the infection of cat fleas in the lab. “If we can determine the factors necessary for pathogen infection, we can then target these molecules to interfere with transmission to humans,” he said.

The new findings build upon what is already known about the transmission of R. felis, such as the understanding that the pathogen uses multiple routes to infect vertebrate hosts, including skin inoculation via the spit and feces of cat fleas.

The Macaluso laboratory is also doing basic research on the flea. Recently, Macaluso and Monika Danchenko, Ph.D., a postdoctoral fellow in microbiology and immunology at the Whiddon College of Medicine, were co-authors on a paper that examined the salivary gland and saliva composition of cat fleas. In collaboration with colleagues at the National Institutes of Health, the article, “Revisiting the sialmone of the cat flea Ctenocephalides felis,” was published in the scientific journal PLoS One in January.

Macaluso, whose lab is supported by funding from the National Institutes of Health, said the long-term goal of his work is to improve the diagnosis and treatment of diseases transmitted by fleas and other arthropods.