SSM Health's blueprint for navigating the 'change curve'

SSM Health's blueprint for navigating the 'change curve' 
Becker's Hospital Review; by Kelly Gooch; 2/26/25 
Addressing the challenges facing healthcare leaders requires focus on more than one priority. In the case of SSM Health, four areas are at the foundation of its approach to taking on what President and CEO Laura Kaiser calls "wicked" problems.

• First is telling our story far and wide, because SSM Health does remarkable work in the communities we serve. ...
• The second is improving our analytical capabilities. ...
• The third is that we need to ensure that we have a margin to reinvest in our infrastructure — facilities, technology and workforce. In the words of Sister Irene Kraus, a Daughter of Charity, "No margin, no mission."
• And then lastly, attention to our culture, because what we provide — our product — is healthcare, which happens through the hearts and hands of our team. And so we need to be sure that we've got a healthy culture in which our caregivers will thrive. There's a definitive link between employee engagement and customer patient satisfaction ...

Editor's note: SSM Health is a Catholic, not-for-profit health system providing high-quality, compassionate, and personalized care to communities across Illinois, Missouri, Oklahoma, and Wisconsin, including home helath, palliative, and hospice services.