Information for Patients at Southcoast Health

As a patient at Southcoast, you can expect compassionate care, no matter your condition, treatment or length of stay. Our team strives to go above and beyond when it comes to caring for our patients in Fall River, New Bedford and Wareham, MA at our hospitals.

In addition to our nationally recognized medical services, including for clinical excellence and patient safety, our doctors, nurses, specialists and other experts prioritize making your stay at Charlton Memorial Hospital, St. Luke’s Hospital or Tobey Hospital as comfortable as possible.

Patient care is our top priority at Southcoast Health. Please contact us to let us know how we can better serve you or if we have excelled in any way.

What We Offer Our Hospital Patients in Southeastern MA

During your time at Southcoast, we will provide you with everything you need to know before, during and after your stay. You can log in to your MyChart profile to access your health record, conveniently pay your hospital bill online, take advantage of our patient financial services, pre-register online and more.

You can also request your medical records. For information ranging from how to use your phone to patient experience to our pharmacy, our patient handbook has all the details necessary for your stay at our hospitals.

Veterans of the United States Armed Forces are encouraged to review this overview of benefits afforded them.

If you are looking for a hospital you can trust, depend on the medical professionals at Southcoast Health for an excellent experience.

Advance Medical Directive

Medical experts recommend speaking with your doctor and family members about your preferences for end-of-life care. A legal document called an advance medical directive (also known as a living will) does two things: 

1. Should you become too sick to express your wishes, it ensures that you have control over the type of health care you receive 
2. Spares your loved ones the anguish of making life-or-death choices on your behalf during heightened stress 

An Advance Medical Directive is one form of leaving instructions for treatment. Another form is a specific type of power of attorney or health care proxy. These legal documents designate a person the authority to make decisions on our behalf in the event you lose the ability to speak for yourself.

Medical Orders for Life-Sustaining Treatment (MOLSTs)

MOLST is intended for patients with severe health conditions whom:

• Want to avoid or receive any or all life-sustaining treatment;
• Reside in a long-term care facility or require long-term care services; and/or terminally ill 
• Desires to spare loved ones the anguish of making life-or-death choices on your behalf during heightened stress 

A patient can establish a directive with the help of a lawyer or through their living will. The first step is to designate a trusted health care proxy authorized to make decisions on your behalf in the event you lose the ability to speak for yourself.  

Talk to your doctor about advance directives. Get forms from your doctor or download them below. Online resources include Mass.gov and RI.gov. Share the completed document with your doctor to place in your chart.

MA MOLST Form and Instructions

RI Durable Power of Attorney for Healthcare

Healthcare Proxy

Learn about the Massachusetts Health Care Proxy from the Massachusetts Medical Society and what it means for you.

Feedback, Compliments and Concerns

Southcoast welcomes all concerns and compliments regarding the service you received as a patient. Please call the Southcoast Hotline at 877-264-7244 or fill out this form.

Southcoast Health proudly serves patients in Fall River, New Bedford and Wareham, MA.

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Change Healthcare Update – February 27, 2024

Southcoast Health Patients,   

Your health, safety and privacy are always our top priority, and we thank you for trusting us with your care. On February 21, we learned of a cyberattack on one of the largest healthcare service companies in the country, UnitedHealth’s Change Healthcare, also known as Optum.

As one of Optum’s clients, Southcoast Health’s cybersecurity team swiftly severed all connectivity with Change/Optum systems in order to protect Southcoast systems and data. Our systems remain fully operational while Change/Optimum responds to this matter.

This widespread service outage is affecting hundreds of healthcare systems, pharmacies and vendors across the United States. Southcoast Health relies on their services for our retail pharmacies, radiology services and billing. Adapting from our normal processes, we have implemented changes to help minimize any interruptions to your care. Please note this may affect our ability to charge expected copays when refilling prescriptions at our Retail Pharmacies.

Our commitment is to do everything possible to make sure you receive the services you require from Southcoast Health while we work through this important issue with the vendor who suffered this cyberattack.

Thank you for your patience as we adjust our operations in response to this matter.