Great, Not Perfect
SSM Health Care was the first healthcare organization to receive the Baldrige Award when it won in 2002. With 15 acute-care hospitals and two nursing homes in four states and nearly 23,000 employees, SSM has been a beacon for performance excellence, earning a number of quality awards including several state awards for SSM facilities. Sister Mary Jean Ryan, chairman and CEO, described how SSM integrated the Baldrige model in her book, On Becoming Exceptional—SSM Health Care’s Journey to Baldrige and Beyond (ASQ Quality Press, 2007).
By every measure, SSM is a great organization. But it’s not perfect. Earlier this week, the U.S. Department of Labor announced that SSM was ordered to pay $1.7 million in back wages to 4,700 employees for violating Fair Labor Standards Act overtime rules: It automatically deducted nurses’ pay for lunch periods even if the nurses worked during that time. SSM reimbursed the nurses earlier this year.
It’s important to remember that no organization is perfect. Mistakes will be made. SSM quickly rectified the situation and, based on what I know about Baldrige organizations, likely has improved its processes so that this situation does not recur.
It would have been instructive to learn how SSM responded but no mention of the issue or of the Labor Department’s settlement can be found on SSM’s Web site. I can understand why it wouldn’t want to publicize an embarrassing event, but I also think it’s important to help people who admire SSM understand that it’s not perfect and that, when it makes mistakes, it addresses them in a systematic and proactive way. That helps everyone learn.
Besides, you can’t prevent the spread of information by ignoring it. Better to tell your side of the story by sharing the corrective actions you’ve taken.
For more about the warts of Baldrige Award winners, read:
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