Memorial Hermann Sugar Land Hospital was recently named a finalist for the 2015 Malcolm Baldrige National Quality Award, the nation’s highest Presidential honor for performance excellence and was recognized by the Baldrige judges for its best practices in the strategy criterion.
High-performing organizations that are candidates for the national award but are not selected as a recipient are eligible for recognition of their best practices in six of the seven Baldrige Criteria categories. Memorial Hermann Sugar Land was the only applicant recognized for its best practices this year.
“This recognition is affirmation that we are on the right track in our journey to excellence,” says Greg Haralson, Sr. Vice President, CEO, Memorial Hermann Sugar Land. “I’m very proud of our team and the safe, high quality care we provide our patients each and every day and am confident that our journey will soon lead us to the Malcolm Baldrige National Quality Award.”
Congress established the Baldrige Award in 1987, to recognize U.S. manufacturing, service, and small business organizations for their achievements in quality and business performance. Organizations may now apply for the award in three additional categories, healthcare, education and nonprofit. The Baldrige Performance Excellence Program, which includes the Baldrige Award, is named for former U.S. Secretary of Commerce Malcolm Baldrige who was a proponent of quality management as a key to U.S. prosperity and long-term strength.
To date, more than 1,600 U.S. organizations have applied for the Baldrige Award with only about 6 percent receiving the highest honor. Since 1999, when the healthcare award category was added, only 20 healthcare organizations have received the award. In addition, many organizations worldwide use the Baldrige Criteria as the cornerstone of their leadership, management and improvement programs without applying for the Baldrige Award.
Earlier this year Memorial Hermann Sugar Land became the first Houston area hospital to earn the Texas Award for Performance Excellence given by the Quality Texas Foundation. The Quality Texas Foundation, known as a national leader in its field, was chartered to recognize the best organizations in Texas using the Baldrige criteria. The group uses an extensive evaluation process that includes hundreds of hours spent through on-site visits to evaluate and score applicants in the same seven categories as the National award.