Baylor University Medical Center Proceedings January 2014, Volume 27, Number 1 | Page 48

Baylor news
■ Baylor Plano receives Malcolm

Baldrige National Quality Award
Baylor Regional Medical Center at Plano has
received one of the most prestigious awards
in the 110-year history of Baylor Health Care
System (BHCS). On November 13, 2013, US
Commerce Secretary Penny Pritzker announced
that Baylor Plano received the 2013 Malcolm
Baldrige National Quality Award, making the
medical center the first hospital in Texas to receive this renowned award.
The Baldrige Award is the nation’s highest
presidential honor for performance excellence
through innovation, improvement, and visionary
leadership. Baylor Plano is one of only 17 health
care organizations to have ever received the
award, which was established by US Congress
in 1987. Jerri Garison, president of Baylor Plano,
and leaders from the two other elite US organizations receiving the 2013 award, will be honored
in April 2014 at a special ceremony in Baltimore
featuring some of the nation’s top government
and business officials.
Baylor Plano was selected from 22 applicants
that were evaluated rigorously by an independent
board of examiners in seven areas defined by the
Baldrige criteria: leadership; strategic planning;
customer focus; measurement, analysis, and
knowledge management; workforce focus; operations focus; and results. An organization may
compete for the award in one of six categories:
manufacturing, service, small business, health
care, education, and nonprofit (including government agencies). However, there is not necessarily
an annual recipient in each category.
Thousands of organizations worldwide use
the Baldrige criteria to guide their operations,
improve performance, and achieve sustainable
results. In health care, a 2011 report by Truven
Health Analytics found that health care organizations that have won or been in the final review
process for a Baldrige Award outperform other
hospitals in all but one metric the company uses
to determine its “100 Top Hospitals” in the nation
(and were six times more likely to be among
the top 100).
Countless hours of work went into preparing
the Baldrige Award application, and the award
surveyors who visited Baylor Plano in October
were impressed by the top-to-bottom quality
they found at all levels. Surveyors noted that
Baylor Plano consistently performed within the
top 10% of hospitals nationwide for a variety
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of key health care quality measures, including reducing pressure ulcers, preventing blood
clots, increasing the efficiency and speed of the
discharge process, and minimizing operating
room turnaround time. They also cited patient
satisfaction surveys for the past 5 years that
have rated Baylor Plano’s inpatient, outpatient,
and ambulatory surgery services with scores of
90% or higher, exceeding the Press Ganey top
10% national benchmarks.
■ Heart transplant program gets pumping
In November 2012, Bay ܈[