St. David's HealthCare Earns Malcolm Baldrige Award, Nation's Highest Presidential Honor For Performance Excellence
AUSTIN, Texas, Nov. 12, 2014 /PRNewswire/ -- On Nov. 12, 2014, St. David's HealthCare was recognized with a 2014 Malcolm Baldrige National Quality Award. St. David's HealthCare is one of only four organizations in the nation to be honored by U.S. Secretary of Commerce Penny Pritzker as a 2014 recipient of the nation's highest Presidential honor for performance excellence through innovation, improvement and visionary leadership. St. David's HealthCare is the first healthcare system in the state of Texas to earn this national award.
"It is humbling to be recognized as a role model for organizations across the country because we know that with this designation comes tremendous responsibility. Performance improvement never ends," David Huffstutler, president and chief executive officer of St. David's HealthCare, said. "We'll continue to raise the bar and push ourselves to be the very best – for our patients, physicians, employees and our community."
The Baldrige Award is named for Malcolm Baldrige, who served as the U.S. Secretary of Commerce from 1981 to 1987 and whose managerial excellence contributed to long-term improvement in efficiency and effectiveness of government.
"I am thrilled to congratulate the 2014 Baldrige Award recipients who have found a proven path to success through the Baldrige Criteria for Performance Excellence—the heart of the Baldrige Award," said U.S. Commerce Secretary Penny Pritzker. "The Baldrige Program is one of the key ways that the Commerce Department is helping to recognize U.S. organizations that strive to have world-class operations. Today's honorees are the role models of innovation, sound management, employee and customer satisfaction, and results. I encourage organizations in every sector to follow their lead."
The 2014 Baldrige Award recipients were selected from a field of 22 applicants. All of the applicants were evaluated rigorously by an independent board of examiners in seven areas defined by the Baldrige Criteria for Performance Excellence—leadership; strategic planning; customer focus; measurement, analysis and knowledge management; workforce focus; operations focus; 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 to clarify questions and verify information in the applications.
To date, more than 1,500 U.S. organizations have applied for the Baldrige Award. Past recipients include The Boeing Company, Lockheed Martin, Cadillac Motor Car Company, Federal Express Corporation and The Ritz-Carlton, among others.
The Baldrige Performance Excellence Program (BPEP) is managed by the U.S. Commerce Department's National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) in cooperation with the private sector. It is designed to:
- Raise awareness about the importance of performance excellence in driving the U.S. and global economy;
- Provide organizational assessment tools and criteria;
- Educate leaders in businesses, schools, healthcare organizations, and government and nonprofit organizations about the practices of national role models; and
- Recognize them with the Baldrige Award in six categories—manufacturing, service, small business, healthcare, education and nonprofit.
Thousands of organizations worldwide use the Baldrige Criteria to guide their operations, improve performance and get sustainable results. This proven improvement and innovation framework offers organizations an integrated approach to key management areas. The criteria are regularly updated to reflect the leading edge of validated management practice.
Secretary Pritzker will present St. David's HealthCare and the other three 2014 Baldrige recipients with their awards at an April 2015 ceremony during the Quest for Excellence conference in Baltimore, Md.
For more information about the Malcolm Baldrige National Quality Award, including profiles of the 2014 Baldrige Award recipients, visit nist.gov/baldrige.
St. David's HealthCare
With more than 90 sites across Central Texas, St. David's HealthCare includes seven of the area's leading hospitals and is one of the largest health systems in Texas. Known for compassionate, high-quality care, the organization has been recognized with the Texas Award for Performance Excellence, the highest honor bestowed by the State of Texas based upon world-class quality measures. In 2014, two of the system's facilities—St. David's Medical Center and St. David's North Austin Medical Center—were named among the nation's 100 Top Hospitals by Truven Health Analytics (formerly Thomson Reuters), a leading provider of information and solutions to improve the cost and quality of healthcare. St. David's HealthCare was also recognized as one of the Top 15 health systems in the U.S. by Thomson Reuters in 2012. Additionally, St. David's Medical Center—which includes Heart Hospital of Austin—was named a Top 50 Cardiovascular Hospital for 2013. Perennially ranked as the top Austin-area employer among large companies by the Austin Business Journal's annual "Best Places to Work" survey, St. David's HealthCare is the fourth-largest private employer in the Austin area, with more than 8,100 employees. For more information, please visit StDavids.com.
Media Contacts:
Erin Ochoa or Kristin Marcum
Elizabeth Christian Public Relations
512.472.9599
SOURCE St. David's HealthCare
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