Notice to our patients – Effective February 26, 2023

Dear Gastro Family,

We have updates to share with you about our relationship between Gastroenterology Associates and Bon Secours St. Francis Health System. Because you are a part of our family, we wanted to make you aware of these upcoming changes.

Beginning February 27, 2023, Gastroenterology Associates will no longer provide in-patient hospital consults or in-patient and outpatient procedures at St. Francis Hospital.

This decision has not been easy.  We’ve attempted to address important issues on multiple occasions over the past two years.  However, St. Francis administration has made it clear they have no interest in resolving the issues or in preserving our 45- year independent working relationship providing care to our mutual patients.

What does this mean for you?

We want to be clear that this does not affect our ability to care for you in our offices and in our endoscopy centers.  We will continue to see all patients in our five offices and perform outpatient procedures in our three endoscopy centers.  This decision only affects our ability to see hospitalized patients at St. Francis Hospital and perform outpatient procedures at St. Francis Hospital. If you are a patient of a St. Francis primary care or specialist provider, you have nothing to worry about.  We will continue to work with all St. Francis providers to ensure you receive the best medical care possible.

The providers at Gastroenterology Associates encourage all their patients to ask for them when being seen at local hospitals.  Our providers will continue to provide services at Prisma Health Greenville Memorial Hospital. Beginning February 27th we will also provide full-time coverage and support at Pelham Medical Center.

If you currently have a scheduled procedure at St. Francis Hospital after February 27th someone from our office will contact you in the near future.  We will do our best to accommodate your needs.

We hope you, a member of our Gastro Family, understand and support our decision as we continue to remain independent, provide high quality medical care and provide our patients with the most affordable gastrointestinal health care options.

YOU are the reason we are here and why we come to work every day.  Thank you for choosing Gastroenterology Associates and placing your trust in us.

Visit our Facebook page for more updates in the coming weeks.  Should you have any additional questions feel free to call our office at (864) 232-7338.

Sincerely,
Your Gastroenterology Associates Team