SSM Health is a

Catholic The Catholic Church, also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the largest Christian church, with 1.3 billion baptized Catholics worldwide . It is among the world's oldest and largest international institutions, and has played a ...

, not-for-profit

United States The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 states, a federal district, five major unincorporated territorie ...

health care system Health, according to the World Health Organization, is "a state of complete physical, Mental health, mental and social well-being and not merely the absence of disease and infirmity".World Health Organization. (2006)''Constitution of the World H ...

with 11,000 providers and nearly 39,000 employees in four states, including

Wisconsin Wisconsin () is a state in the upper Midwestern United States. Wisconsin is the 25th-largest state by total area and the 20th-most populous. It is bordered by Minnesota to the west, Iowa to the southwest, Illinois to the south, Lake M ...

Oklahoma Oklahoma (; Choctaw language, Choctaw: ; chr, ᎣᎧᎳᎰᎹ, ''Okalahoma'' ) is a U.S. state, state in the South Central United States, South Central region of the United States, bordered by Texas on the south and west, Kansas on the nor ...

Illinois Illinois ( ) is a U.S. state, state in the Midwestern United States, Midwestern United States. Its largest metropolitan areas include the Chicago metropolitan area, and the Metro East section, of Greater St. Louis. Other smaller metropolita ...

, and

Missouri Missouri is a U.S. state, state in the Midwestern United States, Midwestern region of the United States. Ranking List of U.S. states and territories by area, 21st in land area, it is bordered by eight states (tied for the most with Tennessee ...

. Based in

St. Louis, Missouri St. Louis () is the second-largest city in Missouri, United States. It sits near the confluence of the Mississippi River, Mississippi and the Missouri Rivers. In 2020, the city proper had a population of 301,578, while the Greater St. Louis, ...

, SSM Health owns

hospitals A hospital is a health care institution providing patient treatment with specialized health science and auxiliary healthcare staff and medical equipment. The best-known type of hospital is the general hospital, which typically has an emerge ...

, pediatric medical centers, outpatient centers, clinics, surgery centers,

nursing homes A nursing home is a facility for the residential care of elderly or disabled people. Nursing homes may also be referred to as skilled nursing facility (SNF) or long-term care facilities. Often, these terms have slightly different meanings to in ...

, assisted living facilities, physician offices, emergency centers, rehabilitation facilities, urgent care centers, home care, and hospice.

History of SSM Health

SSM Health traces its roots to 1872, when Mother

Mary Odilia Berger Mother Mary Odilia Berger, S.S.M., (30 April 1823 – 17 October 1880) was a Germany, German-born Religious Sister who founded the Sisters of St. Mary in 1872 in St. Louis, Missouri, which established and still runs hospitals throughout the Midw ...

and four other sisters came to St. Louis from

Germany Germany,, officially the Federal Republic of Germany, is a country in Central Europe. It is the second most populous country in Europe after Russia, and the most populous member state of the European Union. Germany is situated betwe ...

, after caring for sick and wounded soldiers during the Franco-Prussian War. Facing religious persecution in Germany, they came to the

. When they arrived in St. Louis they began providing

nursing Nursing is a profession within the health care sector focused on the care of individuals, families, and communities so they may attain, maintain, or recover optimal health and quality of life. Nurses may be differentiated from other health ...

care to people in their own homes. That winter, when a smallpox epidemic hit St. Louis, the sisters cared for the sick and dying. For a short time, people referred to them as the Smallpox Sisters. In 1874, the congregation received its formal name: the Sisters of St. Mary (SSM) from the parish where their convent was located, St. Mary of Victories near the riverfront in St. Louis. Five years after their arrival in St. Louis, the sisters borrowed $16,000, to open their first hospital, St. Mary's Infirmary. Almost 60 percent of their patients were unable to pay for their health care services. Account ledgers from this time identify those who were unable to pay for their services as an “ODL,” a designation that stood for “Our Dear Lord’s.” During this time, the sisters relied on God to provide for their needs as they cared for the poor. Most of the

health care Health care or healthcare is the improvement of health via the prevention, diagnosis, treatment, amelioration or cure of disease, illness, injury, and other physical and mental impairments in people. Health care is delivered by health profe ...

facilities that today belong to SSM Health were previously part of a group of hospitals owned by the Sisters of St. Mary and centrally governed, but not centrally managed. In the mid-1980s, the sponsoring congregation decided to reorganize its hospitals into a system of centrally managed health care providers, and SSM Health was created in 1986. Today the system is managed by a team of professionals—both lay and religious—and governed by members of the sponsoring congregation as well as by laypersons from the communities served by its facilities. In 2012, SSM Health stated that it was 'disappointed with the contraceptive mandate' regarding being legally forced to cover such items by the

Affordable Care Act The Affordable Care Act (ACA), formally known as the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act and colloquially known as Obamacare, is a landmark U.S. federal statute enacted by the 111th United States Congress and signed into law by Presid ...

, against Catholic

freedom of conscience Freedom of thought (also called freedom of conscience) is the freedom of an individual to hold or consider a fact, viewpoint, or thought, independent of others' viewpoints. Overview Every person attempts to have a cognitive proficiency by ...

. In 2013, Dean Health System, a large multi-specialty physician group and health plan, finalized a deal to merge Dean and its subsidiaries, including Dean Health Plan, into SSM Health. The merger became effective on September 1, 2013, after all necessary regulatory approvals were received. In 2018, SSM rebranded its Oklahoma hospitals from "St. Anthony" to "SSM Health St. Anthony". The health system's physician's group in the state became known as SSM Health Medical Group. Also in 2018, SSM Health acquired Agnesian HealthCare from Fond du Lac, Wisconsin. SSM Health is sponsored by the

Franciscan Sisters of Mary The Franciscan Sisters of Mary is a Roman Catholic religious congregation of religious sisters based in St. Louis, Missouri, noted for its operation of SSM Health Care, a group of some 20 hospitals throughout the Midwestern United States. It was fo ...

and is one of the largest Catholic hospital systems in the

Malcolm Baldrige National Quality Award

In 2002, SSM Health became the first health care organization in history to receive the

Malcolm Baldrige National Quality Award The Malcolm Baldrige National Quality Award recognizes U.S. organizations in the business, health care, education, and nonprofit sectors for performance excellence. The Baldrige Award is the highest formal recognition of the performance excellen ...

, the highest award for quality in the U.S.

SSM Health Facilities

Missouri

* SSM Health St. Louis University Hospital - St. Louis * SSM Health Cardinal Glennon Children's Hospital * SSM Health DePaul Hospital - Bridgeton * SSM Health St. Clare Hospital - Fenton * SSM Health St. Joseph Hospital - Lake Saint Louis * SSM Health St. Joseph Hospital - St. Charles * SSM Health St. Joseph Hospital - Wentzville * SSM Health St. Mary's Hospital - Richmond Heights * SSM Health St. Mary's Hospital - Jefferson City * SSM Health St. Mary's Hospital Kansas City

Oklahoma

*SSM Health — St. Anthony Hospital - Main Campus (

Oklahoma City Oklahoma City (), officially the City of Oklahoma City, and often shortened to OKC, is the capital and largest city of the U.S. state of Oklahoma. The county seat of Oklahoma County, it ranks 20th among United States cities in population, a ...

) *SSM Health — St. Anthony Bone and Joint Hospital (Oklahoma City) *SSM Health — St. Anthony Healthplex East (Oklahoma City) *SSM Health — St. Anthony Healthplex North (Oklahoma City) *SSM Health — St. Anthony Healthplex South (Oklahoma City) *SSM Health — St. Anthony Healthplex

Mustang The mustang is a free-roaming horse of the Western United States, descended from horses brought to the Americas by the Spanish. Mustangs are often referred to as wild horses, but because they are descended from once-domesticated animals, they ...

(

Oklahoma City metro The Oklahoma City metropolitan area is an urban region in the Southern United States. It is the largest metropolitan area in the state of Oklahoma and contains the state capital and principal city, Oklahoma City. It is often known as the Oklaho ...

) *SSM Health — St. Anthony Hospital

Shawnee The Shawnee are an Algonquian-speaking indigenous people of the Northeastern Woodlands. In the 17th century they lived in Pennsylvania, and in the 18th century they were in Pennsylvania, Ohio, Indiana and Illinois, with some bands in Kentucky a ...

(Oklahoma City metro) *SSM Health — St. Anthony Urgent Care Center Shawnee

Wisconsin

*SSMHealth St. Clare Hospital - Baraboo *SSMHealth St. Clare Meadows Care Center Baraboo *SSMHealth St. Mary's Hospital - Madison *SSMHealth St. Mary's Care Center - Madison *SSMHealth St. Mary's Hospital - Janesville *Dean Health Plan - Madison *Dean Medical Group - Madison *SSMHealth St. Agnes Hospital - Fond du Lac *SSMHealth Waupun Memorial Hospital - Waupun *SSMHealth Ripon Medical Center - Ripon *SSMHealth Monroe Clinic - Monroe

Illinois

*SSM Health St. Mary's Hospital - Centralia *SSM Health Good Samaritan Hospital - Mt. Vernon

Notes

External links

SSM Health website
{{DEFAULTSORT:SSM Health Healthcare in Missouri Healthcare in Illinois Healthcare in Wisconsin Healthcare in Oklahoma Hospital networks in the United States Companies based in St. Louis Catholic health care Medical and health organizations based in Missouri Catholic hospital networks in the United States