2007

Award Recipient

Sharp HealthCare

Sharp HealthCare is San Diego County’s largest 

integrated health care delivery system, serving greater than 

27 percent of the county’s 3 million plus residents—some 

785,000 people—each year. A not-for-profit organization, 

Sharp has an annual net revenue of greater than $1.9 billion; 

employs a workforce of greater than 14,000 staff members 

and 2,600 affiliated physicians; operates four acute care 

hospitals, three specialty hospitals, three affiliated medical 

groups, and 19 outpatient medical clinics; and manages its 

own health insurance plan. This vertical integration enables 

Sharp to offer a full spectrum of health care services, from 

emergency, hospice, and mental health services to multiorgan transplants and hyperbaric treatment.

Continuous Improvement Yields 

Quality Care, Financial Health

In September 2001, the organization launched The Sharp 

Experience, a performance improvement initiative aimed 

at transforming the health care experience for caregivers, 

patients, and their families by reconnecting to purpose, 

worthwhile work, and making a difference. Today, all 

operations and activities are aligned under Sharp’s Six Pillars 

of Excellence—Quality, Service, People, Finance, Growth, 

and Community. Simply put, The Sharp Experience is the 

organization’s core competency and means for Sharp to 

achieve its vision to become “the best place for employees 

to work, the best place for physicians to practice medicine, 

and the best place for patients to receive care.”

As a result of these efforts and the people of Sharp, the 

organization is thriving. For example, consider these key 

financial measures:

	 •	Between 2001 and 2006, Sharp HealthCare’s net

revenue increased by 56 percent. 

	 •	Between 1999 and 2005, Sharp gained more than

four percentage points in market share, an unprecedented 

achievement in a mature health care marketplace. 

	 •	Sharp’s market share in its target segments—women

between 25 and 54 years of age, seniors ages 65 or older, 

and Hispanics—increased by 1.5 percent, 5 percent, and 5 

percent, respectively, between 2002 and 2006.

Sharp’s improved performance enhances not only its 

financial health but the breadth and quality of its health 

care services:

	 •	The number of Sharp Health Plan patients with

diabetes who have levels of low-density lipoprotein (LDL) 

cholesterol—the so-called “bad cholesterol”—above 100 

dropped by 44 percent in 2007.

	 •	Acute myocardial infarction (heart attack) mortality

at the three Sharp hospitals with heart programs has met 

or been lower than the national benchmark since 2004. 

	 •	The incidence of breast and cervical cancer screening

and blood sugar testing among members of Sharp’s medical 

groups has increased steadily since 2003 and outperforms 

the top decile in the state of California’s publicly reported 

database.

	 •	Sharp exceeds the national benchmark for first-year

functional improvement following joint replacement, the 

National Institute of Standards and Technology • U.S. Department of Commerce

Baldrige National Quality Program

What is the Malcolm Baldrige 

National Quality Award?

Named after the 26th Secretary of Commerce, the Malcolm 

Baldrige National Quality Award was established by

Congress in 1987 to promote excellence in organizational 

performance, recognize the achievements and results of 

U.S. organizations, and publicize successful performance 

strategies. For more information, see http://baldrige.nist.gov.

Baldrige 20th Anniversary Highlight:

The Application Process

To apply for the Baldrige Award, organizations

must submit details showing their achievements and 

improvements in seven key areas: leadership; strategic 

planning; customer and market focus; measurement, 

analysis, and knowledge management; workforce focus; 

process management; and results. 

Applicants receive 300 to 1,000 hours of review and 

a detailed report on the organization’s strengths and 

opportunities for improvement by an independent board 

of examiners. 

“The application and review process for the award is 

the best, most cost-effective, and comprehensive business 

health audit you can get,” says Arnold Weimerskirch, 

former Baldrige Award judge and vice president of quality,

Honeywell, Inc.
result of a program that tracks parameters such as pain, 

function, deformity, and range of motion for 10 years 

following surgery.

Customer Focus Yields Satisfaction

Sharp HealthCare strives to exceed the expectations of 

patients by providing high-quality care and services in a 

caring, convenient, cost-effective, and accessible manner. 

Recent metrics show how Sharp is successfully meeting this 

goal. For example:

	 •	San Diego consumers have named Sharp as the best

health care provider in the region, with top rankings for 

clinical quality, customer service, doctors, and nurses.

	 •	In-patient satisfaction with the nursing staff has

improved more than 300 percent system-wide since 2002, 

while satisfaction with the discharge process has grown 

200 percent during the same time span. 

	 •	Sharp Health Plan’s grievance rates have been

consistently low—fewer than 0.15 grievances per 1,000 

members per month—since 2002, a measure that puts Sharp 

in the top quartile nationally for the entire period.

Sharp HealthCare devotes significant time and energy to 

building relationships with patients and their communities 

through community events, collaborative health programs, 

multicultural services, customer contact centers, and 

attention to customer feedback.

Sharp conducts ongoing patient satisfaction surveys, 

updating customer data in real time on a daily basis for 

all staff members. Managers review the data monthly 

on an organization-wide basis. Sharp uses an awareness/

perception/utilization quantitative study as well as 

focus groups and mystery shopping to identify areas for 

performance improvement, and leaders regularly visit 

patients and their families as part of their routine rounds.

Great Place to Work, 

Practice Medicine

Sharp’s dedicated investment in its staff—in time, effort, 

and financial support—has paid off in a highly satisfied 

and productive workforce. Employee satisfaction rates 

best in class by national standards and the organization’s 

annual turnover rate consistently outperforms the state 

benchmark—a significant achievement considering the 

intense competition for qualified staff in an undersupplied 

market.

Physician satisfaction surveys show that the majority of 

the organization’s 2,600 affiliated physicians consistently 

feel Sharp is the best place to practice medicine. Sharp’s 

physician satisfaction scores exceed industry benchmarks at 

almost every hospital in the system. Eighty percent of those 

ratings are in the top quartile.

For all staff, Sharp fosters a culture of transparency 

that encourages effective information flow and two-way 

communication between staff and leaders. Workforce views 

and attitudes are collected and assessed through surveys, 

turnover reports, grievance procedures, rounding, suggestion 

boxes, and employee forums. Action Teams, Lean/Six Sigma 

Teams, and Performance Improvement Teams encourage 

worker participation in fostering change and improving 

organizational performance.

Effective communication also helps staff better 

understand leadership’s expectations and gives them a voice 

in developing, establishing, and using performance metrics. 

For example, more than 1,000 employees voluntarily 

participated in action teams when The Sharp Experience 

was launched in 2001. One of these teams developed a set 

of 12 Employee Behavior Standards, covering areas such as

teamwork, safety, patient confidentiality, competence levels, 

employee appearance, and e-mail manners. Subsequent 

action teams continued the organization’s charge to engage 

employees as “architects of change.”

Sharp’s training expenditure per employee exceeds 

the best-in-class benchmarks for organizations evaluated` 

by the American Society for Training and Development 

(ASTD). “The Sharp University”—the in-house corporate 

university—offers a curriculum aimed at educating and 

developing Sharp’s present and future leaders to drive 

process improvement and advance the organization’s 

mission and vision. 

Additionally, Sharp sponsors a Nursing Leadership 

Academy, supports continuing education programs for 

physicians, and provides each employee with a $1,000 

fund annually to take advantage of external education 

opportunities.

Better Health for the 

Entire Community

Sharp HealthCare strives to do more than just transform 

the health care experience. Equally important to the 

organization is its role as an excellent community citizen. 

For example:

	 •	The economic value of Sharp’s services to the San

Diego community—including charity care, uncompensated 

and under-compensated care, staff volunteer hours, and free 

preventive health offerings such as flu shots, lectures, and 

screenings—increased from $100 million in 2001 to more 

than $180 million in 2006. 

	 •	During the same period, the organization’s financial

support for San Diego’s vulnerable population, health 

research efforts, and the broader community increased 

from $4 million to approximately $6.5 million.

	 •	Between 2003 and 2006, the number of hours donated

by Sharp management to community programs grew from 

10,000 to almost 60,000.

	 •	Sharp targets community health efforts through its

Strategic Planning Process. When community health issues 

or new health threats are identified, Sharp collaborates with 

public officials to implement safe, evidence-based, and 

equitable solutions. 

For more information:

Sharp HealthCare

8695 Spectrum Center Blvd.

San Diego, CA 92123 

Telephone: (800) 82-SHARP (1-800-827-4277)

Email: info@sharp.com

Web site: www.sharp.com