Guiding Principles

The following principles are intended to provide our management, employees, and associates with guidance in the way we wish to conduct business and the behaviors we value within our organization.

1. Our clients’ interest comes first. Our experience shows that if we serve our clients well, our own success follows.
2. Our assets are our people, capital, and reputation. If any of these are diminished, the last is the most difficult to restore.
3. We are dedicated to complying fully with the letter and spirit of laws, rules, and ethical standards that govern us. Our continued success depends on unqualified adherence to these standards.
4. Our goal is to provide fair returns for our shareholders. Profitability is critical to achieving fair returns, building our capital, and attracting and retaining our best people.
5. We take great pride in the professionalism of our people and quality of our work. We strive for excellence in everything we undertake. When we have to choose, we prefer best over biggest.
6. We strongly encourage our employees to experiment with new ideas, exercise creativity, and innovation.
7. We offer our people the opportunity to move ahead more rapidly than is possible at most other places. Advancement depends on merit.
8. We are always watchful of ways to help our people fulfill their family responsibilities.
9. For us to be successful, our people must reflect the diversity of the communities and culture in which we operate. That means we must attract, retain, and motivate people from many backgrounds and perspectives.
10. We stress teamwork in everything we do. We do not tolerate individuals who put their own interests ahead of the company and its clients.
11. The dedication of our people to the company is greater than one finds in most other companies. We believe this is an important part of our success.
12. We consider our size an asset. We want to be big enough to undertake the largest project that our clients could contemplate, yet small enough to maintain the intimacy and morale that we cherish, which contributes greatly to our success.
13. We will treat our business partners equitably and provide them an opportunity to make a fair profit.
14. We maintain financial reserves for adverse times.
15. We strive to anticipate the changing needs of our clients and to develop new services to meet those needs. We realize that complacency, in the rapidly changing world of healthcare, will ultimately lead to extinction.
16. We receive and handle confidential information as part of our normal client relationships. To breach a confidence or use confidential information improperly would be unthinkable.
17. Our business is highly competitive and we aggressively seek to expand our client relationships; however, we must never disparage our competitors.
18. Integrity and honesty are at the heart of our business. We expect our people to maintain high ethical standards in everything they do, both in their work life and their personal life.