St. Thomas Health, which operates Middle Tennessee Medical Center locally, announced renaming all of their mid-state facilities in an effort to tie them together.

Here in Murfreesboro, MTMC would become St. Thomas at Rutherford Campus.

According to St. Thomas spokesperson Rebecca Climer, the Nashville flagship would become St. Thomas West, and Baptist would become St. Thomas Midtown.

She noted that there may still be some tweaking of names before they are changed officially.

Climer explained that the decision was based on extensive research, that indicated a large segment of the population was not aware that the various facilities were tied together as a faith-based health ministry.

In reality, re-branding of this type has proven successful across the nation. Here at home, HCA's subsidiary made a similar move a year ago by adding Tri-Star to the name of each facility.

Outside of Middle Tennessee Medical Center, Baptist and St. Thomas, the other affiliations include co-ownership of the Franklin-based hospital chain Capella Healthcare. Plus, there are four other mid-state hospitals: River Park Hospital in McMinnville, DeKalb Community Hospital in Smithville, Highlands Medical Center in Sparta, and Stones River Hospital in Woodbury. Those hospitals will have have new logos along with the wording "in partnership with St. Thomas Health".

Again, Murfreesboro's Middle Tennessee Medical Center will become St. Thomas at Rutherford campus.

Saint Thomas Health is focused on transforming the health care experience and helping people live healthier lives, with special attention to the poor and vulnerable. Saint Thomas Health is a member of Ascension Health, a Catholic organization that is the largest not-for-profit health system in the United States.