Inpatient service at St. Joseph Mercy Ann Arbor reopens

Michigan Medicine’s inpatient service at St. Joseph Mercy Ann Arbor reopened last week, allowing the organization to further improve access to “the right care at the right time” for patients.

Led by Medical Director Ruby Marr, M.D., and Assistant Medical Director Paul Caseley, M.D., patient care on the unit is managed by board-certified hospital medicine and geriatric physicians from Michigan Medicine in coordination with St. Joe Ann Arbor nurses, techs and support staff. The service provides inpatient general medical care and specialized geriatric care, and has addiction medicine services readily available for Michigan Medicine patients.

Inpatient collaborations at St. Joe Ann Arbor were established in 2013, originally focused on specialized geriatric care and expanding in September 2019 to include general medicine care. In Spring 2020, the service was temporarily discontinued to accommodate St. Joe’s capacity planning for COVID patients. 

The new service is primarily offered on the 26-bed 4 North unit (a change from 10 East, pre-COVID pandemic) and also includes oversight of some additional intermediate care for Michigan Medicine patients in other areas of the facility.

Patients of the service are often transferred from Michigan Medicine adult emergency services, but Michigan Medicine providers are also able to admit to the unit directly from ADTUs or outpatient clinics as needed.

The reopening of the unit follows the recent launch of the Michigan Medicine hospital medicine service at St. Joe Chelsea and is part of the organization’s continued investment to create capacity at University Hospital for high complexity cases, align patient care better to the appropriate environment, and promote a better patient experience with fewer delays to admission.