St. David’s HealthCare

St. David’s HealthCare (SDH)—one of the largest hospital systems 

in Texas—is a unique partnership between St. David’s Foundation, 

Hospital Corporation of America (HCA) and Georgetown Health 

Foundation. With locations throughout Central Texas, SDH operates

six hospitals, six ambulatory surgery centers, four free-standing 

emergency departments, four urgent care clinics, rehabilitation 

facilities and numerous physician practices. SDH is the fourthlargest private employer in the Austin, Texas, area, with a 

workforce consisting of more than 8,000 employees, contractors 

and volunteers. Net revenue for the system in 2013 was $1.4 billion.

Superior Standards That Save Lives

• SDH’s composite performance on core measures reported by the

Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) is at or better

than the top 10 percent of health care systems nationally for

each disease group—a level of excellence SDH has achieved 

since 2009.

• Representing a performance level among the nation’s best, SDH

has ranked in the America College of Cardiology’s top 10 percent

since 2010 for its “door-to-balloon” time in treating the most 

severe form of heart attack known as STEMI (in which the 

coronary artery is completely blocked off by a clot). The “door-toballoon time” refers to the amount of time between a heart attack 

patient’s arrival at the hospital and the point when intervention 

such as a balloon angioplasty is received.

 

• In 2013, marketing research firm Professional Research Consultants

(PRC) presented SDH with its top honor, the President’s Award, 

“for an organization that pushes the healthcare industry to innovate

ways to provide better experiences for employees, physicians and 

patients.” SDH was recognized for achieving superior PRC scores 

for every year since 2008.

Recognizing People Are the Heart 

of Success

• SDH was the first health system in Texas to be named “Texas 

Employer of the Year” by the Texas Workforce Commission. It also 

has been recognized as one of the “top 100 best places to work” 

by Modern Healthcare magazine.

 

• Physician satisfaction teams use results from an annual PRC 

survey of the medical staff to derive actions to improve SDH 

based on the physician’s perspective. Because of this, “engagement

at work” scores on the survey have increased significantly in all 

nine areas measured since 2010. SDH has outperformed PRC’s 

top 10 percent nationally in six of the nine factors, and it performs 

in the top 20 percent for the other three.

2014 Award Recipient

Baldrige Performance Excellence Program • National Institute of Standards and Technology • Department of Commerce 

Highlights

• SDH’s composite performance on core measures reported 

by the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) 

is at or better than the top 10 percent of health care systems 

nationally for each disease group—a level of excellence 

SDH has achieved since 2009.

• SDH was the first health system in Texas to be named “Texas 

Employer of the Year” by the Texas Workforce Commission. 

It also has been recognized as one of the “top 100 best 

places to work” by Modern Healthcare magazine. 

• Through its “Service Excellence Initiative” and other efforts 

to address patient and customer needs at all stages of the 

health care experience, SDH’s patient satisfaction scores, 

as assessed by Hospital Consumer Assessment of Healthcare 

Providers and Systems (HCAHPS), have improved each year 

since 2009.

• Since 2008, SDH has provided more than $1 billion in 

uncompensated care, with the amounts increasing each year. 

SDH also has provided at least 6 percent of its net revenue to 

charity care since 2007—150 percent more than is required 

under St. David’s Foundation’s nonprofit status.
Baldrige Performance Excellence Program • National Institute of Standards and Technology • Department of Commerce 

2014 Award Recipient

St. David’s HealthCare

• SDH innovatively retains nurses through its Specialty Nurse 

Accelerated Program (SNAP) that trains high-performing nurse 

graduates to work in specialty areas. Retention for first-year 

nursing graduates who participated in SNAP was 100 percent in 

2013, compared to a 70 percent retention of such first-year 

graduates nationally.

Customer Focus = Customer Satisfaction 

and Loyalty

• Through its “Service Excellence Initiative” and other efforts to 

address patient and customer needs at all stages of the health care 

experience, SDH’s patient satisfaction scores, as assessed by 

Hospital Consumer Assessment of Healthcare Providers and 

Systems (HCAHPS), have improved each year since 2009.

• Compared to a Gallup survey database used to track patient 

satisfaction across the nation, SDH’s scores were in the top 10 percent

for emergency departments and in the top 25 percent for 

outpatient surgery and treatment.

 

• Patient loyalty scores for 2014, as measured against the Gallup 

survey question indicating “likelihood to recommend,” put SDH 

in the top 10 percent nationally for inpatient care and in the top 

25 percent nationally for outpatient and emergency care.

Fiscal Health Facilitates Quality Health Care

• SDH has demonstrated exceptional performance in net revenue 

growth through expanded operations and operational discipline 

between 2007 and 2013, with an increase of more than 70 percent. 

Additionally, the return on assets has increased from approximately 

17 percent in 2007 to 33 percent in 2013, far exceeding the 

4.7 percent average benchmark for Moody’s AA-rated organizations.

 

• SDH’s financial strength allows it to reinvest in its facilities each 

year without incurring any long-term debt. More than $1 billion 

has been allocated in capital investments for facilities over the past 

12 years.

• SDH has increased its inpatient market share every year since 

2008, growing from approximately 42 percent in 2008 to 48 percent

in 2013.

Lone Star Love for Community

• St. David’s Foundation has contributed more than $200 million to

community programs since 2007. Each year, grants are provided 

to over 55 local agencies that provide primary care, mental health 

programs, community health programs and dental health vans. 

• Since the inception of its dental program, SDH has provided

81,500 children and adults with preventative and restorative 

dental care.

• Since 2008, SDH has provided more than $1 billion in 

uncompensated care, with the amounts increasing each year. 

SDH also has provided at least 6 percent of its net revenue to 

charity care since 2007—150 percent more than is required under 

St. David’s Foundation’s nonprofit status.

 

• To address the environmental well-being of the communities it 

serves, SDH participates in a collaborative effort with vendors, 

facility management teams and local energy suppliers to reduce 

the organization’s environmental footprint. One of these 

initiatives, the Single Stream Waste Initiative, focuses on 

reducing solid waste. From 2008 to 2013, the total number of 

recycled material containers increased from 26,000 to 32,000; 

pounds of plastic kept out of landfills increased from 58,000 to 

96,000; and pounds of carbon dioxide emissions prevented 

increased from 40,000 to 56,000.

For more information:

St. David’s HealthCare 

98 San Jacinto Blvd., Suite 1800

Austin, Texas 78701

Phone: (844) 863-2652

baldrige@stdavids.com

http://www.stdavids.com

Baldrige Performance Excellence Program

The Baldrige Program educates organizations of all sizes and 

from all sectors in organizational performance management and 

improvement. We also administer the Malcolm Baldrige National

Quality Award. Our key services are to identify and recognize 

role-model organizations, share best management practices, and 

help organizations achieve best-in-class performance levels. We are 

the only public-private partnership and Presidential award program 

dedicated to improving U.S. organizations. 

For more information on Baldrige, visit www.nist.gov/baldrige, 

call (301) 975-2036, or e-mail us at baldrige@nist.gov.