Who Owns SSM Health? SSM Health is a comprehensive healthcare system that has been providing medical services for more than a century.
However, even more interesting than their operations is their unique ownership structure. As a healthcare organization, SSM Health has strong religious roots and affiliations that shape its mission and approach to care. In this article, we will explore who owns SSM Health, its historical and religious background, and how this ownership impacts the system’s services and operations.
Additionally, tools like SSM Smart Square—which streamline scheduling and workforce management—play a crucial role in ensuring that the organization’s operations align with its mission-driven values and that care delivery remains efficient and compassionate.
What is SSM Health?
SSM Smart Square stands for the Sisters of St. Mary. This Catholic health care organization was in operation from around the 1800s.
SSM Health runs 23 hospitals and a number of outpatient facilities across the Midwest with services such as hospitals, nursing homes and home health.
Their focus is primarily on the needy and less privileged and providing holistic care with kindness is their aim.
The Evolution of the SSM Health System
Origins of the SSM Health organization are in the year 1872 when a Catholic aunt, called the Franciscan Sisters of Mary opened their first hospital in Missouri in the city of St. Louis.
The nuns, who were zealous in the service of God and attended to the sick as well as the needy, started to add more and more activities to their portfolios. With time, their healthcare vision became what is today SSM Health.
Owner Of SSM Health
History says SSM Health is a Catholic entity, still owned and managed as part of the Franciscan Sisters of Mary.
The nuns have established this health care system with the mission to meet the needs of the unserved people and that vision is very much part of the organization’s ethos today.
The sharing of authority lends credence to the ‘Catholic’ aspect of the structure since all the heads of the various missions do not have to be religious.
That history of SSM Health, and what it stands for in terms of service delivery and Catholicism, is critical to answering the question Who Owns SSM Health?.
SSM Health’s Ownership Structure
Who owns SSM Health? The governance structure and ownership for SSM Health can be traced back to her order of nuns known as the Franciscan Sisters of Mary.
Though the health care system has developed into a huge chain network of different states, the health system is still registered under the same benefactor religious body where it originated.
Here’s how the governance structure operates in brief:
| Governance Body | Role and Responsibilities |
|---|---|
| Franciscan Sisters of Mary | Holds and guides the Mission and the religious purpose of SSM Health |
| SSM Health Board of Directors | Makes great decisions, manages financial funds and administration on daily basis |
| Senior Leadership Team | Makes sure that the operations are performed and the services provided are in accordance to SSM health Mission |
This structure ensures that while the organization is run as any other trend modern health care supplier, it remains committed to its ideal of caring for all people with dignity and compassion, in particular the vulnerable.
SSM Health is primarily still owned by the Franciscan Sisters of Mary, allowing SSM to uphold religious and social mission within its operations.
Stylistic Analysis of Religious Ownership in SSM Health
The question of Who Owns SSM Health? directly influences the way an organization goes about offering healthcare services. Because the Episcopal Corporation of SSM Health is a Catholic institution, its elements are bound by the values of Catholicism. For example,
- Employment of the Poor: As a catholic organization SSM Health has a strong emphasis in regards to the care of challenged areas regardless of the financially ability of the people.
- According to the Ethics of Clinician’s Imposed Morality: management of SSM Health has political, religious and other ethical guidelines that direct how they treat their patients to support healthcare provision
- Prayer and Physical Care: SSM Health does not only attend to people’s bodily needs but also their spiritual ones. Many facilities employ chaplains and give religious assistance to the patients.
These values are deeply rooted in the everyday functions of the health care system from patients care to management of the organizations ensuring that the Franciscan vision shall not perish.
The health care system is greatly owned and operated by the **Franciscan Sisters of Mary ** SSM Health whose operational policies are guided by the teaching of the Catholic faith.
How the Organizational Structure Impacts the Operations of SSM Health?
Lay individuals and members of the religious order comprise the management team at SSM Health, thus fostering pluralism in the management structure. Therefore, the decisions made are informed by Catholic social teachings considering the main principles of these organizations.
Who Owns SSM Health? It is in the sense that the Franciscan Sisters of Mary’s membership guarantees that SSM Health will be in the sphere of healing and rendering services instead of making being a profit making organization as most healthcare business institutions are.
- Not-for-Profit Status: SSM Health utilizes its revenue to improve the quality of care offered to the patients, increase the volume of services offered and invest in modern medical equipment rather than handing out returns to shareholders.
- Community Outreach Programs: Substantial funding is set aside for health programs in the communities in line with Catholic social teaching.
Over and above every concern of SSM Health on the operations of the business is that the said ownership SSM Health guarantees that the commercial interests of the business operations do not overweigh the community service orientation of SSM Health.
Expansion and Growth of SSM Health
When considering Who Owns SSM Health?, it is equally important to understand how such ownership structure made the organization grow. Starting as a small hospital, SSM Health Network grew into a network of:
- 23 hospitals
- more than 290 external physician practices and outpatient establishments.
- 40000+ workers in several states of operation: Missouri, Illinois, Oklahoma and Wisconsin.
Nonetheless, SSM Health still adheres to the central values set forth by the Franciscan Sisters of Mary despite the expansion.
SSM Health’s growth, ownership-driven, indicates that it meets the need for increasing the provision of health care services without deviating from the core objectives of the organization.
Conclusion
When considering Who Owns SSM Health?, it becomes clear why particular structures and values define this organization.
Apart from ownership, governance rests with the Franciscan Sisters of Mary and hence the Catholic emphasis on caring for the sick, the poor and ethical standards of care.
This form of ownership has an effect on the operations, control and growth of the organization, as SSM Health does not waiver from its principle of provision healthcare services with a guiding principle.
Delving into a health care system that places more importance on services than its profitability, it becomes apparent by answering the question ‘Who Owns SSM Health?’ that this health care system is suitable for the communities in which it exists.
