St. Mary’s Good Samaritan, Incorporated (SMGSI) was created in 1996 through a unique and visionary joint operating agreement (JOA) between SSM Health Care of St. Louis (the first MBNQA winner in health care) as the managing partner, and Felician Services, Inc. (FSI) of Chicago. SMGSI is a Catholic, not-for-profit corporation pursuing a vision to create a comprehensive, regional health care enterprise covering a nine county area in South Central Illinois. This vision has been in place since 1996 and will continue into the foreseeable future.

A regional health care enterprise has and is continuing to be developed by building on the existing strengths of both St. Mary’s Hospital in Centralia and Good Samaritan Regional Health Center in Mt. Vernon. These two hospitals (180 beds at Centralia and 154 beds at Mt. Vernon) anchor the continued development of tertiary services. Primary services include emergency care, medical/surgical, oncology, neurology, mental health, obstetric, cardiology, orthopedic, pediatric, and rehabilitation. SMGSI delivers its acute care services in inpatient, outpatient and emergency room settings.  

Additional physician and mid-level provider services are available through SMGS Medical Group.  The SMGS network is dispersed across the nine county area. Currently these outreach facilities include six community-based Family Health Centers, three outpatient psychiatry offices, and one physician management company encompassing nearly 30 physicians and physician extenders.   Home health services are provided through SSM Home Care. 

SMGSI is one of the largest health care networks operating in South Central Illinois and continues to experience growth.

Clinical Development Teams are in place for core service lines, including Cardiology, General Surgery, Orthopedics, and Neurosciences.  SMGSI has three successful joint ventures related to its specialty services, including an Orthopedic Center, a Cancer Center, and an outpatient Neurology Center.  The Mt. Vernon campus is one of the few hospitals in the region to offer a full service cardiology program, including interventional cardiology and open heart surgery.

During the recent years of change and challenge in health care, SMGSI’s employees have looked to these cultural touchstones for direction and inspiration.

Mission

...to continue the healing ministry of Jesus Christ by improving and providing regional, cost effective quality health services for everyone, with a special concern for the poor and vulnerable.

Vision Statement

....to develop a comprehensive regional network of health care services that will allow the patients within the area to receive a broader spectrum of services closer to home. In order to be successful, it is important to increase availability of services. Consistent with our mission and values, we wish to provide these services in collaboration with organizations in our neighboring communities.

Values

As partners in the healing ministry, we are committed to: providing compassionate and competent service, acting justly, respecting the dignity of all and fostering a spirit of community.

Core Values Quality Principles

• Patients and other customers are our first priority
• Quality is achieved through people
• All work is part of a process
• Decision making by facts
• Quality requires continuous improvement

Quality Principles

Two of the strongest cultural influences ensuring constancy of purpose are: (1) the organization’s history and tradition and (2) our long-term commitment to continuous quality improvement (CQI).

Committed to continuous quality improvement, St. Mary’s Good Samaritan, Inc. uses a variety of methods to measure against best practices of the health care industry in areas such as patient care and safety, customer satisfaction, and financial performance.  SMGSI is a 2008 recipient of the Lincoln Foundation for Performance Excellence “Silver Award” for Progress Toward Excellence. Only five years ago, SMGSI was the second ever healthcare organization to receive the Lincoln Foundation’s Gold Award for Achievement of Excellence.

A panel of expert judges has determined that SMGSI is performing at a level of excellence worthy of recognition as a role model for other Illinois organizations.  Modeled after the Malcolm Baldrige National Quality Award, the Lincoln Award is among the strongest state-level quality review programs in the country. The Foundation’s purpose is to significantly raise Illinois’ worldwide competitiveness by improving the performance of its institutions and businesses.  The application process is a self-assessment, enabling organizations to measure themselves against the Foundation’s seven criteria of excellence, patterned after the Malcolm Baldrige National Quality Award:  leadership, strategic planning, customer and market focus, information and analysis, human resources development and management, process management, and organizational results.

To qualify for the award, examiners must find evidence of systematic, well-deployed approaches for the major processes, evaluation and improvement of the approaches, and demonstration of positive results in key areas. 

Service Excellence