Baldrige National Quality Program CEO Issue Sheet

BALDRIGE in Health Care: Performance 

Excellence Delivers World-Class Results

Maybe you have heard about

organizations in crisis using a

Baldrige assessment to begin a turnaround. But why would a good U.S.

health care organization undertake a

Baldrige self-assessment? To become

better—and to get better results. In

today’s rapidly changing health care

marketplace with ever-increasing

challenges, being results-focused

is essential. Senior leaders are

responsible for cultivating a resultsdriven environment. Senior leaders

who understand organizational

performance excellence know that

results must create and balance

value for all their organization’s

key stakeholders. The seven,

comprehensive Categories of the

Health Care Criteria for Performance

Excellence are designed to help

organizations capitalize on their

unique strengths and identify their

opportunities for improvement.

When organizations effectively

develop and deploy strategies in

each of the first six Baldrige Criteria

Categories, they can expect these

linked processes to drive better results. 

The seventh Category of the Baldrige

Health Care Criteria is called Results.

This Category examines a health

care organization’s performance and

improvement in key outcome areas—

health care and service delivery;

patient and other customer focus;

financial and market; human resource;

organizational effectiveness; and

leadership and social responsibility.

Baldrige Award recipients have

proven to be world-class organizations

that measure outcomes in all their

key organizational performance areas,

and know where they stand on each

relative to the outcomes of competitors

and health care industry leaders.

Baldrige Award recipients focus on improving health care outcomes and delivering the

highest quality health care service. Award recipients have demonstrated how an

emphasis on health care performance results can lead to rapid improvements in

patient care.

• Robert Wood Johnson University Hospital Hamilton (RWJUHH, 2004 Award

Recipient in Health Care) maintains a focus on improving outcomes for patients with

myocardial infarction (MI) and congestive heart failure (CHF). In an evaluation by

the Joint Commission on Accreditation of Healthcare Organizations, RWJUHH

ranks among the top 10 percent of hospitals in the effectiveness of its aspirin and

beta-blocker treatment for patients who have suffered a heart attack or congestive

heart failure. For more information, contact Shashi Madhok, Vice President of

Quality, (609) 631-6988, smadhok@rwjuhh.edu.

• St. Luke’s Hospital of Kansas City (SLH, 2003 Award Recipient in Health Care) is a

model when it comes to providing specialized care capabilities for very ill people.

In treating ischemic stroke, St. Luke’s leads the nation in the percentage of

diagnosed patients receiving Tissue Plasminogen Activator (tPA) to help restore

circulation and reduce permanent brain injury. In the second quarter of 2003,

27 percent of SLH patients received tPA versus the national average of 3 percent.

For more information, contact Sherry Marshall, Vice President of Quality,

(816) 932-3233, marshall@saint-lukes.org.

Achieve Superior Health Care Outcomes

and Service Delivery Outcomes 

Baldrige Award recipients strive to deliver superior health care quality and value to their

patients and other customers leading to satisfied patients, loyalty, repeat business, and

positive referral. 

• Bronson Methodist Hospital (BMH, 2005 Award Recipient in Health Care) ensures

that its patients are the central focus of the organization. Patient satisfaction and

overall satisfaction with both inpatient and outpatient services at BMH have increased

from approximately 95 percent in 2002 to 97 percent in 2004. Annually since 2001,

Arbor Associates has presented BMH with its Award for Highest Overall Patient

Satisfaction. In 2005, BMH began using the Gallup organization to measure not only

overall satisfaction, but also to track increases in the category of patients who are the

most satisfied. For more information, contact Susan Watts, Director of Corporate

Communications, (269) 341-8102, wattss@bronsonhg.org.

• Baptist Hospital, Inc. (BHI, 2003 Award Recipient in Health Care) has created a

multifaceted, systematic approach to building customer relationships. Since 1998,

the Press Ganey survey has shown BHI to be near the 99th percentile for overall

satisfaction for both inpatients and outpatients in the areas of ambulatory surgery,

home health care, and air ambulance service. For more information, contact

Lynda Barrett, Director of Planning, (850) 469-7708, lbarrett@bhcpns.org.

Attain Positive Patient- and Other 

Customer-Focused Outcomes

Validating Key Results 
BALDRIGE in Health Care: Performance Excellence Delivers World-Class Results

An organization that values its staff is committed to their

satisfaction, development, and well-being. Baldrige Award

recipients are focused on creating and maintaining a

productive learning and caring work environment for all staff.

• BMH has earned many awards for workplace excellence

and work/life balance, including being named among the

“100 Best Companies for Working Mothers” by Working

Mother Magazine (2003, 2004, and 2005) and Fortune

Magazine’s “100 Best Companies to Work For” (2004 and 2005).

• St. Luke’s maintains an intense focus on its employees, and

results show employees are staying longer, which is another

indicator of employee satisfaction. Results for employee

retention from 2001 through 2005 have exceeded the

Saratoga Institute’s median and are approaching 90

percent retention. 

• BHI has become an employer of choice by offering

employees a combination of empowerment and extensive

training and development programs. In 2003, BHI was

named a “Top 50” learning organization by Training

magazine. In both 2002 and 2003, BHI was ranked in the

top 15 in Fortune’s “100 Best Companies to Work For.”

Achieve Significant Gains: Financial and Market Outcomes

Know Your Strongest Assets: Human Resource Outcomes

Operate as a Leader: Organizational Effectiveness Outcomes

Senior leaders are responsible for tracking financial and market

results on an ongoing basis to assess their organization’s

performance. Baldrige Award recipients seek to understand

their organization’s financial sustainability and marketplace

challenges and opportunities.

• SSM Health Care (SSMHC, 2002 Award Recipient in Health

Care) is committed to continuous improvement and is at the

forefront of the health care industry. SSMHC’s share of the

St. Louis market increased from 14 percent in 1998 to 18

percent in 2001, while three of its five competitors lost

market share. For more information, contact Paula Friedman,

Corporate Vice President of Strategy and Systems

Improvement, (314) 994-7840, Paula_Friedman@ssmhc.com.

• RWJUHH has a vision of growth through improvement.

Results from 1999 to 2003 show that RWJUHH was New

Jersey’s fastest-growing hospital and the organization attained

a market leadership position across its service lines. Its

market share in cardiology grew from 20 percent to nearly

30 percent; in surgery, 17 to 30 percent; and in oncology,

13 percent to above 30 percent. Its closest competitors’

market shares have remained the same or declined in each of

those areas. RWJUHH’s emergency department volume

doubled in that time, making it the volume leader in the area. 

Baldrige Award recipients strive to achieve organizational

effectiveness and process efficiency by developing and tracking

key business and operational performance measures that are

relevant and important.

• RWJUHH focuses on ongoing cycles of improvement, and its

commitment to excellence mandates innovation—in services,

processes, and technology. Since 1998, when RWJUHH

launched the 15/30 program, all emergency patients see a

nurse within 15 minutes and a physician within 30 minutes

or their emergency department charge is waived. 

• BHI anticipates advances in medical technology and practices.

In 2001 and 2003, Hospitals and Health Networks magazine

gave BHI its “Most Wired” award for effective use of technology.

Be a Role Model: Leadership and Social Responsibility Outcomes

Baldrige Award recipients’ senior leaders understand the

value of serving as role models and of reinforcing ethics,

values, and expectations while they build leadership,

commitment, and initiative throughout their organizations

and in their communities.

• BMH received the Environmental Leadership Award

presented by Hospitals for a Healthy Environment for three

years in a row, and is one of only eight hospitals to receive

this premier national recognition for pioneering efforts to 

reduce waste and pollution. Twenty-four percent of BMH’s

total waste stream was recycled in 2004; the amount of

medical waste going to landfills has been decreased by

85 percent, and BMH has eliminated 480,000 gallons of

water and 13,000 gallons of chemicals annually.

• SSMHC is committed to its core values of compassion,

respect, excellence, stewardship, and community. SSMHC’s

“Healthy Communities” initiative was launched in 1995

and its charity care policy helps the organization address its

mission and vision. SSMHC requires each of its entities to

engage in one or more community projects such as free

dental clinics and campaigns to reduce teen drinking and

smoking. Since 1999, SSMHC has exceeded its charity care

goal of contributing a minimum of 25 percent of its operating

margin (before deductions) from the prior year. Currently,

in excess of 33 percent of SSMHC’s previous year’s operating

margin (before deductions) is used to provide health care

to people who cannot pay.

For more information about Baldrige, contact the Baldrige National Quality Program, (301) 975-2036 or nqp@nist.gov. 

Visit the Baldrige Program’s Web site at www.baldrige.nist.gov for a general overview.