A hospital in Illinois known as "Good Sam" and a healthcare consulting group in Florida are among the seven 2010 Malcolm Baldrige National Quality Award winners.
Both reportedly demonstrated exceptional performance on the financial front.
U.S. Commerce Secretary Gary Locke announced the awards – billed as the nation's highest Presidential honor for performance excellence through innovation, improvement and visionary leadership – on Tuesday.
Among the winners are Advocate Good Samaritan Hospital in Downers Grove, Ill., a suburb of Chicago, an acute-care hospital that has evolved in the past 30 years from a 333-bed community hospital to a nationally recognized leader in healthcare, known for its services in cardiology, gastroenterology, stroke care, women's health and behavioral health. It features a level I trauma center and a certified level III neonatal intensive care unit. "Good Sam" is part of Advocate Health Care, a top 10 health system in the nation.
Also winning an award was the Studer Group, a private, for-profit healthcare consulting firm that provides coaching, teaching and evidenced-based tools and tactics to healthcare organizations throughout the United States. It is led by founder and CEO Quint Studer.
"This year's recipients of the Malcolm Baldrige National Quality Award embody the ingenuity and creativity that characterizes the American spirit and drives America forward," Locke said. "Innovation is at the heart of U.S. job creation, competitiveness and global strength, and the accomplishments of these outstanding leaders are an inspiration to us all."
"This award is unique in that it honors the collective effort of an entire organization that has systematically strived to achieve excellence in all aspects of its work," he added. "Today's honorees demonstrate how teamwork and a shared vision can lead not only to organizational success but also to nationwide advancements in innovation and economic competitiveness."
A few highlights from "Good Sam's" performance:
- With a focus on "funding the future," Good Samaritan Hospital has received an AA bond rating and contributed to Advocate Health Care's systemwide AA rating. The hospital's net operating margin increased from 5.98 percent in 2007 to 7.39 percent in 2009, exceeding that of AA-rated hospitals and representing a top-decile (in the upper 10 percent) performance in the industry.
- The hospital's total insurance expense for malpractice declined 51 percent from 2006 to 2009, from approximately $12 million to approximately $5 million. In addition, the hospital received a $2 million refund from its primary payer due to a reduction in the risk-adjusted rate related to malpractice.
- Good Samaritan demonstrates high levels of performance in many process measures for clinical outcomes. For example, risk-adjusted mortality (overall mortality divided by expected mortality, where 1 is the standard) decreased from 0.55 in 2007 to 0.42 in 2010, exceeding the six-county top-decile level as measured by Thomson Reuters.
- The hospital uses a 12-step process to determine key factors that affect workforce engagement and satisfaction, and then to assess its effectiveness in addressing those factors. The hospital uses the results, which are segmented by job classifications and work units, to determine organizational and department tactics for improvement.
- Overall patient satisfaction exceeds top-decile ratings from Press Ganey, the largest national surveyor of patient satisfaction, for all patient segments – inpatient, outpatient and emergency.
Studer Group highlights are on the next page.
Highlights of the Studer Group's performance:
- With a focus on financial sustainability, the Studer Group's revenues have grown more than 30 percent annually since 2001, exceeding the AMCF average of 10 percent annual growth.
- The company defines its success based on the results of the organizations it coaches, particularly how patients perceive the quality of care they receive from these partner organizations. On the standardized Hospital Consumer Assessment of Healthcare Providers and Systems (HCAHPS) survey to determine how patients perceive the quality of care they receive in hospitals, Studer Group partners achieve two to three times more improvement in the same time period than the national average. This results in a 20-percent point advantage for Studer Group partners over non-partners on the global measures of patient perception of care.
- In pursuit of its vision "to be the intellectual resource for healthcare professionals," the Studer Group's active contracts with healthcare organizations have increased from 2006 to 2009 for both segments of its coaching business – general acute care hospitals and rural hospitals. Both of these groups receive Evidence-Based Leadership (EBL) coaching. The firm's average annual contract growth rate of 18 percent outperforms the Association of Management Consulting Firms (AMCF) average of 5.5 percent.
- By using the same EBL techniques that it teaches, the company has sustained high levels of CEO satisfaction and satisfaction with coaching. Since 2006, satisfaction ratings have ranged from 4.6 to 4.9 on a five-point scale, exceeding the Service Performance Insight (SPI) Best Benchmark of 4.3. High levels of satisfaction have translated into renewal rates that exceed 85 percent annually.
- Overall employee satisfaction, overall employee morale and employee engagement based on attitude surveys conducted by Sperduto & Associates reached or exceeded the 90th percentile from 2006 to 2009 when compared to other organizations in the Sperduto database.
The other five 2010 Baldrige Award recipients – listed with their category – are:
- MEDRAD, of Warrendale, Pa. (manufacturing). The manufacturer of medical devices is a second-time winner, having been selected in 2003 in the same category.
- Nestlé Purina PetCare of St. Louis, Mo. (manufacturing).
- Freese and Nichols, Inc., of Fort Worth, Texas (small business).
- K&N Management of Austin, Texas (small business).
- Montgomery County Public Schools of Rockville, Md. (education).
The 2010 Baldrige Award recipients were selected from a field of 83 applicants. All were evaluated by an independent board of examiners in seven areas: leadership, strategic planning, customer focus, measurement, analysis and knowledge management, workforce focus, process management and results.
The evaluation process for each of the recipients included about 1,000 hours of review and an on-site visit by a team of examiners.