St. Luke's welcomes media professionals to contact our Network Marketing & Public Relations Department to arrange physician, staff and patient interviews and stories, to request background information and to visit our facilities accompanied by a Network Marketing & Public Relations staff member.

Weekday Contact for Media Inquiries

Sam Kennedy, Corporate Communications Director
Phone: 484-526-4134
Email: samuel.kennedy@sluhn.org

If Mr. Kennedy is out of the office or unavailable, please contact the hospital operator and request to page the on-call member of the Marketing staff.

Weeknight and Weekend Contact for Media Inquiries

St. Luke's Marketing & Public Relations staff members rotate on-call duties for media inquiries.

Weeknights after 5 pm and on the weekends (after 4:30 pm Friday through 8 am Monday), contact St. Luke's operator at 484-526-4000 and ask for the Marketing staff member on-call.

For Patient Conditions

Call the main number at the St. Luke's Hospital site where the patient is being cared for and ask for the Nursing Supervisor.

Note: Patients and families may opt out of providing condition information to the public and media. (Please see HIPAA Regulations and the Release of Patient Information for further details.)

HIPAA Regulations, the Media and the Release of Patient Information

The Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act of 1996 (HIPAA) federally mandated a change in patient privacy standards across the nation. The act limited hospitals' ability to release information about patients to the media and to the public.

Under HIPAA, hospitals must ask each patient (or a legal representative) if he or she agrees to disclose information about his or her stay at the hospital. Patients may opt to refuse the release of information (including that they are currently patients) or to limit the information released.

St. Luke's works with the media to provide accurate and timely information, while respecting the confidentiality of our patients' medical information and complying with HIPAA's privacy regulations.

St. Luke's follows the following policies when providing patient information to the media:

  • A member of the media must have a patient's name in order to request a condition.
  • A patient's condition will only be provided if that patient has approved the release of information. No additional information beyond the condition will be provided about the patient.
  • If the media does not ask for the patient by name, no individual identifiable information about the patient may be legally disclosed by the hospital.
  • The hospital may not release any information about a patient who dies at the hospital without the written authorization of next of kin.

View St. Luke’s patient consent forms.

For Media Visiting any St. Luke's Location

  • All media interviews or photography session with St. Luke's patients, physicians and staff must be coordinated through St. Luke's Marketing & Public Relations Department.
  • All media that come to St. Luke's sites must first check in with the receptionist in the lobby of that building.
  • Members of the media should wear identification of their media affiliation when on campus of any St. Luke's facility.
  • All media must be accompanied by a St. Luke's Marketing & Public Relations staff member when conducting interviews or taking photos on a St. Luke's campus.
  • Media crews, reporters, videographers and photographers who enter any St. Luke's property without clearance will be stopped by security and asked to go to the lobby area until a member of the Marketing & Public Relations Department can be contacted. This policy is in effect to secure the confidentiality of our patients and is in concurrence with the American Hospital Association guidelines.
  • When on a St. Luke's campus or facility, media crews must park in a proper parking space unless authorized by the Marketing & Public Relations Department. Please do not block patient access to any hospital or St. Luke's outpatient location. Media crews may not park in the Emergency Department parking areas.