Newswise — CLEVELAND—University Hospitals (UH) has received the 2024 World’s Most Ethical Companies® recognition by Ethisphere, a global leader in defining and advancing the standards of ethical business practices.
The health system has been recognized 12 times since 2012 and is one of only four honorees in the Healthcare Providers industry. This year, 136 honorees were recognized spanning 20 countries and 44 industries.
“Every year, University Hospitals provides high-quality healthcare to more than a million patients, and we are guided in this work by our core values,” said Cliff A. Megerian, MD, FACS, University Hospitals Chief Executive Officer and Jane and Henry Meyer Chief Executive Officer Distinguished Chair. “We are honored to be recognized for the 12th time as one of the World’s Most Ethical Companies. This recognition is a testament to our employees, who we call caregivers, that embody our values and demonstrate an unwavering commitment to our Mission: To Heal. To Teach. To Discover.”
“At its core, University Hospitals promotes a culture based on values and ethics, which is supported by a robust compliance and ethics program committed to continuous improvement,” said LaVonne E. Pulliam, JD, Chief Compliance Officer for University Hospitals. “We are honored to receive this recognition, which reflects our system-wide commitment to uphold our ethical standards and put our values into daily practice. This is not only beneficial for our patients, but also for the larger Northeast Ohio region. We are committed to being the most trusted healthcare provider for all people in our community.”
University Hospitals’ Core Values
Service Excellence, Integrity, Compassion, Belonging, and Trust are at the center of the organization, and these standards clearly define the health system’s ethical principles and culture.
- Service Excellence: We deliver the best outcomes, service, and value with the highest quality through a continuous quest for excellence and seeking ways to improve the health of those who count on us.
- Integrity: We have a shared commitment to do what is right and adhere to the highest standards of ethics and personal responsibility to earn the trust of our caregivers and community.
- Compassion: We have genuine concern for our patients and each other while treating everyone with respect and empathy.
- Belonging: We value the contributions of all caregivers, and are committed to building an inclusive, encouraging and caring culture where all can thrive.
- Trust: We depend upon our caregivers' character, reliability and judgement.
Ethics & Performance
UH highlighted several programs to Ethisphere to demonstrate its commitment to integrity and social responsibility, and strongly believes that its organizational structure and the inclusion of the Compliance & Ethics Department in day-to-day operations is an important component of success.
For the past few years, since its inception in 2021, UH’s “Compliance Champion” liaison program has allowed caregivers to receive specialized training on various compliance topics every month, and have regular communications with Compliance & Ethics team members. The program is voluntary and any caregiver can join. Champions build their compliance acumen and serve as a resource for their own teams, along with providing valuable insight back to the Compliance & Ethics Department to continually improve.
Compliance Champions are also an important source of feedback on the UH Compliance Program. UH leverages this group to pilot its annual training and confirm that key messages are clearly articulated. The health system also consults this group on new programs or policy changes to understand the employee impact of the change. While employees can join at any time, UH actively seeks recruitment during Compliance & Ethics Week.
In 2023, UH embarked on its most ambitious project in decades—implementation of its new electronic medical record, EPIC. This was the equivalent of removing the central nervous system of the organization and replacing it with a brand new one. This multi-year project culminated in two implementation waves, yet even with the investment UH continued to prioritize compliance and ethics activities.
Finally, UH has historically promoted a Speak Up Culture, in which caregivers across the health system are encouraged to speak up if they see something that strikes them as wrong, without fear of retaliation.
“It’s always inspiring to recognize the World’s Most Ethical Companies®. Through the rigorous review process, we see the dedication of these organizations to continually improving their ethics, compliance, and governance practices to the benefit of all stakeholders,” said Erica Salmon Byrne, Ethisphere’s Chief Strategy Officer and Executive Chair. “Companies that elevate best-in-class cultures of ethics and integrity set a standard for corporate citizenship for their peers and competitors to follow. Congratulations to University Hospitals for achieving this honor and demonstrating that strong ethics is good business.”
Methodology & Scoring
The World's Most Ethical Companies assessment is grounded in Ethisphere's proprietary Ethics Quotient®, an extensive questionnaire that requires companies to provide over 240 different proof points on their culture of ethics; environmental, social, and governance (ESG) practices; ethics and compliance program; diversity, equity, & inclusion; and initiatives that support a strong value chain. That data undergoes further qualitative analysis by our panel of experts who spend thousands of hours vetting and evaluating each year's group of applicants. This process serves as an operating framework to capture and codify truly best-in-class ethics and compliance practices from organizations across industries and from around the world.
Honorees
To view the full list of this year’s honorees, please visit the World’s Most Ethical Companies website, at https://worldsmostethicalcompanies.com/honorees.
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About University Hospitals / Cleveland, Ohio
Founded in 1866, University Hospitals serves the needs of patients through an integrated network of 21 hospitals (including five joint ventures), more than 50 health centers and outpatient facilities, and over 200 physician offices in 16 counties throughout northern Ohio. The system’s flagship quaternary care, academic medical center, University Hospitals Cleveland Medical Center, is affiliated with Case Western Reserve University School of Medicine, Northeast Ohio Medical University, Oxford University, the Technion Israel Institute of Technology and National Taiwan University College of Medicine. The main campus also includes the UH Rainbow Babies & Children's Hospital, ranked among the top children’s hospitals in the nation; UH MacDonald Women's Hospital, Ohio's only hospital for women; and UH Seidman Cancer Center, part of the NCI-designated Case Comprehensive Cancer Center. UH is home to some of the most prestigious clinical and research programs in the nation, with more than 3,000 active clinical trials and research studies underway. UH Cleveland Medical Center is perennially among the highest performers in national ranking surveys, including “America’s Best Hospitals” from U.S. News & World Report. UH is also home to 19 Clinical Care Delivery and Research Institutes. UH is one of the largest employers in Northeast Ohio with more than 30,000 employees. Follow UH on LinkedIn, Facebook and Twitter. For more information, visit UHhospitals.org.
About Ethisphere
Ethisphere is the global leader in defining and advancing the standards of ethical business practices that strengthen corporate brands, build trust in the marketplace, and deliver business success. Ethisphere has deep expertise in measuring and defining core ethics standards using data-driven insights that help companies build strong cultures of ethics and integrity. Ethisphere honors superior achievement through its World’s Most Ethical Companies® recognition program, provides a community of industry experts with the Business Ethics Leadership Alliance (BELA), and showcases trends and best practices in ethics with Ethisphere Magazine. Ethisphere also advances business performance through data-driven assessments, guidance, and benchmarking against its unparalleled data: the Culture Quotient dataset reflecting the ethical business practices of 3+ million employees around the world; and the Ethics Quotient dataset, featuring 240+ data points on the ethics, compliance, social, and governance practices of the World’s Most Ethical Companies. For more information, visit https://ethisphere.com.
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