St. Joseph Mercy Medical Center is a 450-bed hospital in southwestern city of about 150,000. The hospital is 50 percent owner of Red Rock Health Network, a physician hospital organization (PHO). A large, local physician group owns the other 50 percent. The PHO offers financial (managed care contracting), marketing and business management services.
A small medical group in the community, which includes two physicians, seeks to join the network. Among other things, they practice at the local Planned Parenthood (PP). This local PP office, however, does not provide abortions, but rather provides reproductive and other health services. The director of operations wonders whether admitting the group into the network creates a problem for the Catholic owners of the network vis-a-vis Part Six of the Ethical and Religious Directives for Catholic Health Care Services.
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