Cooper Green Mercy Health

Story

Cooper Green Mercy Health Services is owned by Jefferson County, Alabama. It first opened as Mercy Hospital in 1972 as a 319-bed acute care facility and was renamed for former Birmingham mayor Cooper Green three years later. It is located at 1515 6th Avenue South, adjacent to UAB Hospital on Birmingham's Southside. After four decades, the hospital closed its inpatient beds on December 31, 2012, and transitioned to a multi-specialty outpatient clinic. The clinic offers both primary and specialty care, behavioral health, and urgent care. In addition, it offers an onsite pharmacy, radiology, and clinical laboratory, as well as OT, PT, Speech and Respiratory Therapy. The clinic's executive director is Roger Scott McCullough, appointed as Interim in 2014. Consistent with its mission, the clinic continues to offer healthcare to the citizens of Jefferson County regardless of their ability to pay.Funding for indigent care was established by the Alabama Legislature in 1965, using revenues collected from county sales and liquor taxes. As a county-owned clinic, Cooper Green Mercy provides healthcare services to all Jefferson County residents with fees based on family size and income. The Clinic coordinates with the University of Alabama at Birmingham (UAB) Health System, one of the nation's leading academic medical centers, as a training site for medical residents and to provide patients with diagnostic tests and procedures not provided onsite. In addition, many of the specialty clinics are staffed by UAB faculty who practice part-time at the facility. Through this partnership, Cooper Green Mercy Health Services' patients, most of whom are low income or economically-challenged, are able to receive not just comprehensive healthcare services, but world class healthcare.