CHA Ministry Identity Assessment

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About the Ministry Identity Assessment

The Ministry Identity Assessment is a comprehensive tool using the seven core commitments of the Shared Statement of Identity for the Catholic Health Ministry and the Baldrige Maturity Framework. The assessment enables ministry systems and facilities to evaluate their policies, practices, community partnerships, and treatment of patients/residents and caregivers utilizing the agreed upon criteria for Catholic health care excellence as represented in the core commitments, Catholic Social Teaching and the Ethical and Religious Directives for Catholic Health Care Services.

The new assessment tool is the second edition of CHA’s Ministry Identity Assessment, which launched in 2018. The creation of the CHA assessment is an extension of the work that began following a 2016 “Critical Conversation” gathering of CEOs, sponsors and mission leaders. The importance of maintaining institutional integrity and ministry identity in the face of rapidly changing health care delivery was the conversation’s focus. CHA was tasked with identifying essential elements for a ministry identity assessment process and offering key performance indicators to demonstrate an organization’s alignment with its identity as a ministry of the Church in terms of patient care, operations, and decision-making.

Both the 2018 and 2023 versions of the CHA Ministry Identity Assessment were designed with input from task forces representing Catholic health leaders in mission, ethics and operations. CHA is grateful to all ministry colleagues who contributed time, talent and expertise to ensure the exceptional quality of the renewed Ministry Identity Assessment.

From Catholic Health World:
CHA to launch online platform for conducting ministry identity assessments

Feedback from the Ministry

“I have reviewed the CHA Ministry Identity Assessment and the results gathered from the four pilot sites. I am impressed by the level of honesty and transparency the key performance indicators require. Looking at the daily operations and decisions of the health ministry from the lens of CHA’s core commitments will make the mission and values of Catholic health more relevant for all involved in the process. Finally, seeing ministry identity as part of an organization’s continuous quality improvement is an excellent way to assure accountability and fidelity to the mission of the Church. I heartily endorse the CHA Ministry Identity Assessment."

Archbishop J. Augustine DiNoia
Former Adjunct Secretary
Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith

"Bon Secours Mercy Health was honored to be one of the pilot systems involved in the updated web-based version of CHA’s Ministry Identity Assessment. Our discussions have been collaborative in nature, thought provoking and quite inspirational. The tool itself is formative and important for mission improvement. It revealed areas of commendation and recommendation. Through this process we identified how to measure key aspects of our Catholic identity, had the opportunity to engage appropriate stakeholders and gain depth in our understanding of the many ways our mission is alive today."

Amy Marcum
Chief Mission Operations Officer
Bon Secours Mercy Health

The Importance of Assessing Ministry Identity

In 1965, the bishops of the world wrote the Pastoral Constitution on the Church in the Modern World at the Second Vatican Council. They reminded us, “The Church has always had the duty of scrutinizing the signs of the times and of interpreting them in the light of the Gospel...” For the healing ministry to endure and flourish, we must continue to ask: What are the signs of the times in health care today? How do we interpret them in the light of the Gospel, and how do we act in a way consistent with our identity? Since 1977, the Catholic Health Association has been engaged in articulating what are the objective criteria for assessing the effectiveness of Catholic health care facilities as ecclesial organizations. Gospel principles and Catholic social teaching have always been the foundational values by which we assess ourselves. While the underlying values of Catholic health care have not changed, the health care environment in which we operate, the types of partnerships we are entering, and our models of sponsorship have.

Learn more about the Ministry Identity Assessment in this Informational Brochure

Listen to the Health Calls podcast discussion on the Ministry Identity Assessment

Time Commitment

The CHA Ministry Identity Assessment process takes between three to four months for an organization to complete. This does not include the advance time that may be required to coordinate the calendars of senior leaders. It is recommended the assessment not be scheduled during holiday and summer vacation times, nor during the year an organization is expecting an accreditation visit.

Staff Hours

Depending on the size of the organization and the number of people involved in the process, an organization should expect to invest between 1,000 – 1,500 hours of staff time for the entire process. This time includes the time required for prereading and preparation as well as the actual meeting time. The mission leader can expect to devote 150 – 200 hours to the process, senior leaders approximately 16 hours, steering team and core commitment chairs 32 hours and core commitment committee members 24 hours.

Participants

The CHA Ministry Identity Assessment is intended to involve all levels of the organization from frontline associates to board members and sponsors. The senior leadership team needs to be engaged and supportive of the process, while the mission leader of the organization is usually the project manager of the assessment. The composition of the Steering Team and Core Commitment Committees will vary depending on the size of the organization but should always be representative of all levels of the organization.

Process

The CHA Ministry Identity Assessment process includes three segments: pre-assessment, assessment and process improvement.

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CHA Ministry Identity Assessment

About the Ministry Identity Assessment

Feedback from the Ministry