4 ways SSM Health's legal department has made strides

The Association of Corporate Counsel announced today that St. Louis-based SSM Health has been named a 2015 "ACC Value Champion."

The ACC "Value Champions" initiative recognized the Catholic, nonprofit health system as one of 12 corporate legal departments and law department/law firm or legal service provider collaborations that delivered substantial value to their client organizations by cutting spending, improving predictability and achieving better legal outcomes, according to a news release.

Here are four efforts made by SSM Health.

1. SSM Health created a centralized team of 20 in-house attorneys to take care of its legal services, specifically in the practice areas of healthcare operations, labor and employment, and transactions, according to the release. That meant legal department members could better manage relationships with business leaders, increase engagement in operational issues and garner a 95 percent customer satisfaction rate.

2. SSM Health's legal department also instituted a database to organize contracts and a cloud-based legal practice management program to organize legal matters and approve invoices, according to the release. That led to reduced contract review turnaround time, from eight business days to two business days. It also led to a 127 percent increase in contract completions.

3. By insourcing legal talent and improving control of external legal counsel, the health system was able to reduce legal expenses by more than 65 percent, 

4. The team "leveraged new technologies to establish a culture of innovation within the entirely paperless department," according to the release. Those technologies include an electronic contract management database and a cloud-based legal practice management program to organize legal matters and approve invoices.

 

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