North Mississippi Health Services

North Mississippi Health Services (NMHS) is a nonprofit, communityowned, and integrated health care delivery system serving 24 

rural counties in northeast Mississippi and northwest Alabama. 

The organization includes six hospitals, four nursing homes, and 34 

clinics. It provides preventive and wellness services, hospital-based 

emergency and acute care services, post-acute care services, and 

a preferred-provider organization. The NMHS workforce of 6,226 

employees and 491 physicians serve at health care facilities located

in six Mississippi communities (Tupelo, Baldwyn, Eupora, Iuka, 

Pontotoc, and West Point) and one Alabama city (Hamilton). 

Net revenue in 2011 was $730 million.

North Mississippi Medical Center (NMMC), the flagship hospital

and referral center in the NMHS system, was honored with a 

Baldrige Award in 2006.

High Standards = Better Health Outcomes

• Efforts to create healthier populations in the communities served

by NMHS have led to outstanding results. For example, outpatient

management of diabetes has met or exceeded the National 

Committee for Quality Assurance (NCQA) top-decile benchmark

since 2008. Colorectal cancer screenings have increased since

2009 and consistently exceed the standard set by the state’s 

Medicare quality improvement organization. Additionally, data 

from NMHS’s Community Health Assessment demonstrate that

the number of smokers in the region has declined 7 percent since 

2004 to 15.6 percent.

• For 2012, NMMC has demonstrated performance at the 100 

percent level for Joint Commission-accredited hospitals in 26 of 

30 Surgical Care Improvement Project core measures.

• A strong focus on patient safety has led to no central line-associated

blood stream infections in the intensive care unit for two years. 

Slips, trips, and falls are below the National Database for Nursing 

Quality Indicators mean for both inpatient and long-term care 

settings across the system in fiscal year 2012.

• Weighted patient satisfaction results for the NMHS system have 

been at or above the Press Ganey Associates 90th percentile since 

2008. (PGA is a national consulting firm focused on improving 

health care performance.) Scores from the Hospital Consumer 

Assessment of Healthcare Providers and Systems survey—a national,

standardized, publicly reported poll of patients’ perspectives of 

hospital care—were at or above the 90th percentile for one or more 

dimensions at all six NMHS hospitals.

2012 Award Recipient

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

Highlights

• Weighted patient satisfaction results for the NMHS system

have been at or above the Press Ganey Associates 90th 

percentile since 2008. (PGA is a national consulting firm 

focused on improving health care performance.) Scores 

from the Hospital Consumer Assessment of Healthcare 

Providers and Systems survey—a national, standardized, 

publicly reported poll of patients’ perspectives of hospital 

care—were at or above the 90th percentile for one or 

more dimensions at all six NMHS hospitals.

• The NMHS employee retention rate has been at or above 

90 percent since fiscal year 2009, exceeding the Bureau 

of Labor Statistics’ benchmark for health care organizations 

by 10 percent. Survey results show that employee engagement was above 90 percent from 2008 through 2012, and 

that workers rated their job satisfaction as “best in class” 

in both 2010 and 2012.

• Despite its location in what has been called “the nation’s 

epicenter of poverty,” NMHS is the only health care 

organization in Mississippi or Alabama with a S&P AA 

credit rating, which it has held for the past 18 years.
Baldrige Performance Excellence Program • National Institute of Standards and Technology • Department of Commerce 

2012 Award Recipient

North Mississippi Health Services

Maximizing Service and Improving 

Performance 

• NMHS uses a variety of methods to reach various stakeholders and 

capture their feedback on areas for improvement. These include the 

“Careline” free phone line, regular leader visits to work areas, face-toface interviews, Facebook comments received, and surveys. The system’s

customer service team reviews the data to identify where changes 

are needed.

• NMHS shares performance results with its workforce, partners, 

patients, and other stakeholders through systematic, well-deployed 

performance scorecards. Performance data and progress toward 

improvements are reviewed monthly by senior leaders. System-wide 

collaborative work groups share best practices on a regular basis.

• NMHS utilizes an innovative “Ideas for Excellence” program to capture

improvement suggestions from the workforce. The number of ideas 

submitted has more than doubled in the past five years to greater than 

10,000 in fiscal year 2011, with approximately 40 percent accepted 

for implementation during that time.

Caring for Caregivers: Employee 

Satisfaction a Priority

• The NMHS employee retention rate has been at or above 90 

percent since fiscal year 2007, exceeding the Bureau of Labor 

Statistics’ benchmark for health care organizations by 10 percent.

• To engage its workforce, NMHS links rewards and recognition to its 

EXCEL performance management system and critical success 

factors. Survey results show that employee engagement was above 

90 percent from 2008 through 2012, and that workers rated their 

job satisfaction as “best in class” in both 2010 and 2012.

• NMHS’s core competency of “People Who Provide a Caring 

Culture” recognizes the role that the workforce plays in achieving 

the organization’s mission to “continuously improve the health of 

the people of our region.” Through its innovative “grow-our-own” 

strategy, NMHS employs a full-time career counselor to assist 

employees in identifying opportunities for career progression and 

provides tuition reimbursement for advanced education and 

training that approached $450,000 in fiscal year 2011.

• Senior managers at NMHS have created a culture that emphasizes

 “people first” among its critical success factors. This “servantleadership” philosophy enables managers to model the 

organization’s values and build trust with employees, sustaining

 an empowered, accountable, and high-performing workforce. 

• To support physician leaders in the organization, NMHS has 

developed an intensive Physician Leadership Institute. Graduates 

expand their leadership roles as advocates, mentors, and 

performance improvement champions. Physician leaders share 

operational responsibilities by participating in annual planning 

retreats, managing service lines, and supporting clinics and 

community hospitals across the system.

• NMHS’s Live Well Employee Incentive Program educates and 

rewards employees for healthy and safe behavior choices on and 

off the job. The program has contributed to a trend where the annual

increase in premiums for the employer-sponsored Live Well Health 

Plan dropped from 12 percent in calendar year 2009 to 2 percent 

in calendar year 2011.

Sound Management is a Prescription 

for Financial Health

• NMHS leads its primary competitor in market share by 13 percent 

and all other hospitals combined by 8 percent. In addition, for 

selected procedures (e.g., cardiac catheterizations and open-heart 

surgeries), NMHS has led all other competing hospitals in market 

share from 2008 to 2010.

• Despite its location in what has been called “the nation’s epicenter 

of poverty,” NMHS is the only health care organization in 

Mississippi or Alabama with a Standard & Poor’s (S&P) AA credit 

rating, which it has held for the past 18 years.

An Active Commitment to Healthier 

Communities

• Dollars spent for charity care at NMHS rose to $80 million per 

year in 2010 and 2011. Employee contributions to United Way—

providing meals, prescriptions, clothing, and utility assistance to 

the citizens of northeast Mississippi—increased from $475,000 in 

2007 to nearly $600,000 in 2011.

• NMHS community and regional outreach includes obesity

prevention services, school health centers that provide nurses to 

22 schools in six counties, the free Nurse Link Call Center, and free 

fairs for preventive screenings and health care promotion, including

blood pressure checks, flu shots, and childhood immunizations.

For more information:

Marsha Tapscott

North Mississippi Health Services

830 S. Gloster St.

Tupelo, MS 38801

Telephone: (662) 377-3193 or (662) 377-3148

E-Mail: mtapscott@nmhs.net

Web Site: http://www.nmhs.net

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.