University Hospitals named one of Ethisphere's 2014 World's Most Ethical Companies

CLEVELAND, March 20, 2014 /PRNewswire/ -- University Hospitals (UH) has been recognized by the Ethisphere Institute, an independent center of research promoting best practices in corporate ethics and governance, as one of the 2014 World's Most Ethical Companies®.

This is the second time that the UH health system has received this honor (it previously received the recognition in 2012) and it is one of eight health systems worldwide to be named to this year's list.

"The award is a tribute to the integrity of our boards, leadership team, physicians and employees who focus on meeting the health needs of Northeast Ohio," said UH Chief Executive Officer Thomas F. Zenty III.  "Everyone who comes into contact with us understands the central role integrity plays at UH. Being named to Ethisphere's 2014 World's Most Ethical Companies list demonstrates that we take corporate responsibility seriously and we're honored to be included."

Ethisphere recognizes organizations that raise the bar on ethical leadership and corporate behavior.

"The entire community of World's Most Ethical Companies believes that customers, employees, investors and regulators place a high premium on trust, and that ethics and good governance are key in earning it," said Ethisphere's Chief Executive Officer, Timothy Erblich. "University Hospitals joins an exclusive community committed to driving performance through leading business practices. We congratulate everyone at UH for this extraordinary achievement."

UH was honored for promoting the highest of ethical standards. UH secured a spot on the list by implementing and maintaining principled business practices and initiatives that are instrumental to the organization's success, that benefit the community and that raise the bar for ethical standards within the industry. 

Cheryl Forino Wahl, Vice President and Chief Compliance Officer at UH, said the health system works diligently to provide an ethical framework and reporting system that enables individual employees to take the appropriate actions in their daily work.

"Our employees act in furtherance of the shared values of the organization and its mission:  'To Heal.  To Teach. To Discover,'" said Wahl. "At UH ethical behavior based on the highest integrity is everyone's responsibility, and our Code of Conduct demonstrates to our patients and community that UH has strong values and can be relied upon to act with integrity. We are grateful for this recognition by Ethisphere of UH's values."

The World's Most Ethical Company assessment is based upon the Ethisphere Institute's Ethics Quotient™ framework. The Ethics Quotient framework has been developed over years of effort to provide a means to assess an organization's performance in an objective, consistent and standardized way. The information collected provides a comprehensive sampling of definitive criteria of core competencies, rather than all aspects of corporate governance, risk, sustainability, compliance and ethics. The Ethics Quotient framework and methodology was determined, vetted and refined by the expert advice and insights gleaned from Ethisphere's network of thought leaders and from the World's Most Ethical Company Methodology Advisory Panel.

Scores are generated in five key categories: ethics and compliance program (25 percent), reputation, leadership and innovation (20 percent), governance (10 percent), corporate citizenship and responsibility (25 percent) and culture of ethics (20 percent).

The full list of the 2014 World's Most Ethical Companies can be found at http://ethisphere.com/worlds-most-ethical/wme-honorees/.

About University Hospitals
University Hospitals, the second largest employer in Northeast Ohio, serves the needs of patients through an integrated network of hospitals, outpatient centers and primary care physicians in 16 counties. At the core of our health system is University Hospitals Case Medical Center, one of only 18 hospitals in the country to have been named to U.S. News & World Report's most exclusive rankings list: the Best Hospitals 2013-14 Honor Roll. The primary affiliate of Case Western Reserve University School of Medicine, UH Case Medical Center is home to some of the most prestigious clinical and research centers of excellence in the nation and the world, including cancer, pediatrics, women's health, orthopaedics and spine, radiology and radiation oncology, neurosurgery and neuroscience, cardiology and cardiovascular surgery, organ transplantation and human genetics. Its main campus includes the internationally celebrated 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 at Case Western Reserve University. UH Case Medical Center is the 2012 recipient of the American Hospital Association – McKesson Quest for Quality Prize for its leadership and innovation in quality improvement and safety. For more information, go to www.uhhospitals.org.

About the Ethisphere Institute
The Ethisphere® Institute is an independent center of research, best practices and thought leadership that promotes best practices in corporate ethics and governance and enables organizations to improve compliance, mitigate risk, and enhance relationships with employees, business partners, investors and the broad regulatory community. Ethisphere evaluates and benchmarks compliance and governance programs, honors superior achievement through its World's Most Ethical Companies® recognition program and publishes Ethisphere Magazine. Ethisphere is also the leading provider of independent verification of corporate ethics and compliance programs that include: Ethics Inside® Certification, Compliance Leader Verification™ and Anti-Corruption Program Verification™. More information about Ethisphere can be found at: www.ethisphere.com.

SOURCE University Hospitals