As the flagship hospital of Franciscan Health System, St. Joseph Medical Center continues to be the regional leader in the use of advanced medical technologies and therapies.
The 320-bed regional medical center is located on a hillside overlooking the port and downtown Tacoma. The physicians and staff of St. Joseph serve our neighbors in the greater Tacoma/Pierce County area, and portions of King and Kitsap counties.
Parking
Valet – Complimentary valet parking service for both the hospital and the adjacent outpatient center is provided for patients and visitors from 5 a.m. to 9:30 p.m. at the J Street entrance to hospital.
To retrieve your parked vehicle between 9:30 p.m. and 5 a.m., contact a hospital Security officer.
Self – Several self-parking locations are located around and near the hospital; each is well marked with signage and within easy walking distance of the hospital and outpatient center. Parking is also available in the outpatient center’s garage, which can be entered between I and J streets, immediately west of the outpatient center.
Telephones
A telephone is located in each patient’s room.
• For local calls, dial 88 and then the phone number.
• For long-distance calls, dial 85, followed by 0, area code and the phone number.
All long-distance calls from patients’ rooms must be collect, or charged to the caller’s home phone number or credit card. The hospital does not provide free long-distance phone service.
Pay phones are located at several locations in the hospital.
Facility Maps
Maps of the hospital and its campus are available at several locations in the hospital, including the main lobby.
Food/Meals
Our patients are provided meals approved by a team of healthcare professionals and prepared with the patients’ treatment and recovery in mind.
Cafeteria -- Visitors to the hospital may purchase snacks or hot meals in the Cafeteria, located on the Ground Level. The Cafeteria is open for breakfast, lunch and dinner seven days a week.
Cafeteria menu
Deli – The Deli is on Level 1, near the main lobby and Admitting Department. It is open Monday through Friday, and serves hot and cold foods, and refreshments.
Gift Shop
The Gift Shop is next to the Deli.
Phone: 253-426-6801
Hours: Monday - Friday 9 a.m. - 7:30 p.m.
Saturday and Sunday 9 a.m. - 4 p.m.
Flower & Balloon Information
Due to safety and infection control issues, these items are restricted in the following areas:
5C NO FLOWERS or BALLOONS
6C NO FLOWERS
6D NO FLOWERS
10A NO FLOWERS (Mylar Balloons OK)
10B NO FLOWERS (Mylar Balloons OK)
10C NO FLOWERS (Mylar Balloons OK)
10D NO FLOWERS (Mylar Balloons OK)
11C NO FLOWERS IN GLASS CONTAINERS
11D NO FLOWERS IN GLASS CONTAINERS
Patients must bring their picture identification and insurance card to the Admitting Office. If staying overnight, please leave all your valuable items (jewelry, etc.) at home.
Medical Insurance
Many insurance companies require that you pre-certify for certain medical procedures. Check your policy or contact your insurance provider to ensure that physician and hospital services are properly authorized.
As stated in your contract with your insurance company, your co-pay and/or deductible is your responsibility and will be collected by St. Joseph Medical Center at the time of service. If you are unsure of your co-pay and/or deductible responsibility, contact your insurance provider at the (800) number provided on your insurance card.
Self-Pay Patient Discount
To ensure community-wide access to its services, St. Joseph Medical Center provides the same average price discount to self-pay patients as it gives to commercial insurance companies.
Currently, self-pay patients receive a 60 percent discount on bills for our hospital services. Payment or satisfactory arrangements must be made within 60 days.
“Self-pay” refers to patients who have the ability to pay for hospital services but lack medical insurance and do not qualify for financial assistance.
This discount does not apply to established prices for self-pay services that are not covered by insurance, such as bariatric surgery and plastic surgery. Also, this discount does not apply to co-pays or deductibles for patients with medical insurance.
For more information about our Self-Pay Patient Discount, please contact our financial counselors at 253-396-6700.
Uninsured/Underinsured Patient Discounts
St. Joseph Medical Center provides medical care for everyone who needs it, regardless of their ability to pay.
Our policy for Uninsured/Underinsured Patient Discounts (also called charity care or financial assistance) is based on the individual’s financial ability, or inability, to pay the balance of his/her hospital bill.
We use the U.S. Housing and Urban Development’s “Geographic Very Low Income Guidelines” to determine a patient’s eligibility for charity care. Patients can qualify to have up to 100 percent of his or her hospital bill forgiven.
Patients with some health insurance may still qualify for charity care because of their limited annual income. These individuals are often referred to as “underinsured.”
Patients who qualify typically have no income or only a very limited income; no medical insurance or inadequate medical insurance; and no ability to pay for the hospital services they need.
For more information about our Uninsured/Underinsured Patient Discount, please call 253-396-6700. All inquiries are considered private and confidential.
Bills For Medical Services
St. Joseph Medical Center and Franciscan Health System are committed to helping you understand your hospital bill.
Your hospital bill will reflect whatever your insurance does not pay.
After your insurance company has reviewed your bill and paid for, or denied, its portion, we will bill you for your part of the bill. Most insurance companies require patients to pay part of their hospital bills View your bill online.
Questions about your health insurance
Please contact your insurance company for questions about your insurance.
Questions about your hospital bill
Please contact the hospital’s billing office at 253-396-6700 for help with:
• Applying for free or discounted care
• Applying for Medicaid, Basic Health, the state’s high-risk pool, or other insurance programs
• Getting answers to questions about your bill
Questions about bills from other providers
You will receive separate bills from each physician involved in your care, including your regular doctor, the radiologist (if you had X-rays and other diagnostic-imaging procedures), your surgeon, assistant surgeon and anesthesiologist (if you had surgery) and other specialists. Your hospital bill does not include these charges, nor does the hospital submit the insurance claims for their payment. Please contact the physician’s office directly with any questions about physician charges.
Following is a list of the groups that Franciscan Health System regularly works with. If you receive a bill from them and have questions about the bill, please contact them directly:
Ambulance
American Medical Response
1-800-542-7701
253-584-7574 (Pierce County)
206-444-4444 (King County)
Rural Metro Ambulance
1-800-989-9993
Tri-Med Ambulance
1-888-487-4633
Anesthesia
Pacific Anesthesia, PC
1-888-284-5033
Emergency Room Physicians
Team Health ER Physicians
1-888-952-6772
Pathology
Puget Sound Institute of Pathology
1-800-234-7224
Radiology
Tacoma Radiological Associates
253-383-0505
Click to see frequently asked questions about billing.
Visiting Hours
Regular visiting hours are generally from 11 a.m. to 8:30 p.m. daily for all areas of the hospital, except the Mental Health unit.
Visitors to the Mental Health unit are welcome generally from 5 p.m. to 8 p.m. Monday through Friday, and from 3 p.m. to 8 p.m. on Saturdays and Sundays or holidays.
After regular visiting hours, visitors to the hospital must enter through the Emergency Department and check in at the nurse station. From there, a security officer escorts visitors to the patient’s room.
Children under 12 should be accompanied by an adult when visiting the hospital.
Visitors may be required to follow certain procedures, depending on the condition of the patient. The nurse staff will provide specific instructions for visiting these patients.
Patient/Facility Directory
St. Joseph Medical Center protects the private health information of our patients. We follow federal privacy standards for healthcare information established by the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA) of 1996.
The following information about patients is provided in the Facility Directory: Patient’s name; patient’s location within the hospital; patient’s condition described in brief terms (satisfactory, serious, critical, etc.) that do not communicate specific medical information.
Patients have the right to “opt out” of the Facility Directory but cannot “pick and choose” who can be informed about their presence in the hospital. For patients who choose not to be listed in the Facility Directory, the hospital staff will tell callers and visitors who inquire about the patient: “We have no information available on a patient by that name.”
For patients who choose to be listed in the Facility Directory, information about them will be released only to individuals who ask for the patient by his/her first and last names.
A patient may change his/her decision to be included in or excluded from the Facility Directory.
Bill Calculator
It’s important that you know approximately how much your hospital bill could be for your surgery and other medical procedures.
The information provided on this website is only a best estimate. It is not a guarantee of what you will be charged.
Actual charges will depend upon several factors, such as length of time spent in surgery or recovery; the number of days spent in the hospital; unexpected conditions or complications, etc.
Also, your hospital bill will not include charges by physicians who are involved in your care. They will bill you separately.
Bill Calculator
Free Web Pages For Patients, Families, And Friends
Patient and family Web pages are Internet based tools that allow patients or their families to build web pages that keep family and friends updated on developments in the patient's condition and treatment.
The web pages are easy to access and navigate. They can display photos and information, and allow visitors who have been invited to leave messages for the patient.
The links below will take you to websites that allow you to create free patient web pages:
Chapel
Our Chapel is open 24 hours a day, seven days a week for prayer, worship, meditation and reflection for people of all faiths. Catholic Mass is offered regularly. The Chapel is on Level 1, just off hospital’s main lobby.
Pastoral/Spiritual Care
Our chaplains are available to address emotional and spiritual issues. Their services include individual and group consultations, prayer support, and referrals to spiritual resources upon the patient’s discharge by the hospital.
Interpreters
Interpreters are provided for our patients when necessary. When you arrive at the hospital, please notify the patient-care staff if you need for an interpreter.
Patient Escorts
Patient escorts are available within the hospital to ensure that you arrive safely, comfortably and on time for appointments within our facility.
Patient Advocates
Customer satisfaction is a top priority at St. Joseph Medical Center. Our patient advocates work with the hospital’s managers and supervisors to respond to, and seek resolutions for, concerns and complaints expressed by our patients.
Patient Satisfaction
We constantly measure our patients’ satisfaction with the medical care and services they receive. We also seek ways to improve how we meet their expectations. As a patient or former patient, you may be asked to respond to a questionnaire designed to gauge your level of satisfaction with our hospital and the care it provided you. We hope you will take the few minutes to complete the survey. Your comments are important to us. Customer satisfaction is one of our top priorities.
Patient Safety
Patient safety is another of our hospital’s primary goals. We strive to ensure that those who entrust their care to us receive the care they need in the safest environment possible.
Safety Hotline: Please call our Patient Safety Hotline at 253-426-6289 if you have concerns about safety. Concerns about patient safety or care in the hospital that the hospital has not addressed may be referred to the Joint Commission Office of Quality Monitoring at 1-800-994-6610.
Pharmacy
A pharmacist is on duty at the hospital 24 hours a day to fill the pharmaceutical needs of our inpatients.
Also, most prescriptions can be filled and over-the-counter drugs obtained at the Century Plaza Pharmacy, the hospital’s retail pharmacy at 1708 S. Yakima Ave. It is open from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. Monday through Friday, and from 8 a.m. until 12 p.m. on Saturday. It serves the public as well as hospital patients and employees. The phone number is 253-591-6920.
Housekeeping Services
Our environmental services staff ensures that the hospital provides patients and visitors with a clean, safe and pleasant environment. We strive to maintain an atmosphere that will benefit the health and well being of our patients, staff and visitors.
Volunteers
Volunteers donate their time to help make the hospital more comfortable and pleasant for patients and visitors.
Cash Machine
A cash machine is located on Level 1 near the main lobby and the Gift Shop.
Newspapers
Newspapers are available for purchase from news boxes outside the I Street (Ground Level) entrance to the hospital, as well as in the Gift Shop on Level 1.
Lost And Found
Lost and found items are taken to the hospital’s Security Office.
Fire Safety
If you hear a fire alarm within the hospital, please remain calm and stay where you are until given specific directions. If any action is needed, our staff will advise you about where to go. We often conduct fire drills to test our fire-safety equipment and to make sure the staff knows how to respond in a fire emergency.
Tobacco-Free Environment
For the health and safety of our patients, visitors and employees, the use of tobacco products is not allowed on the hospital’s property. Cigarettes and other tobacco products are known causes of cancer and other fatal diseases. If you are interested in nicotine-replacement therapy, please talk with your doctor. To join our Freedom From Tobacco Support Group, call 253-426-6746.
You can also get help quitting tobacco by calling the Washington State Tobacco Quitline at 1-877-270- STOP, or 1-877-2NO-FUME (Spanish).
Cellular Phones
Patients and visitors may quietly use personal cellular phones inside the hospital so long as the devices do not interfere with patient privacy or the hospital’s healing environment.
We Do Not Discriminate
Franciscan Health System is committed to excellence every day as part of our healing ministry. We do not discriminate against any person on the basis of race, color, national origin, disability or age in admission, treatment or participation in our programs, services and activities.
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