Malcolm Baldrige Award: Mercy Health System

The Malcolm Baldrige Award is a guide to achieve excellence in businesses. It is based on a system approach that draws a set of performance objectives for companies, allowing them to reach advanced and outstanding performance to better serve their numerous stakeholders on one hand, to enhance the general organizational effectiveness and efficiency on the other, as well as encourage and increase both the individual and organizational learning with the purpose to increase the overall satisfaction. The Malcolm Baldrige National Quality Award is held every year, it is honored by the presence of the President of the United States of America who presents the awards to organizations that successfully reveal outstanding quality and performance. It is given to organizations in different fields and sectors mainly: manufacturing, service and small businesses, education, health care and nonprofit organizations. The Awards are given annually to the top organizations that meet the outstanding requirements in seven areas of performance excellence, known as the Baldrige Criteria for Performance Excellence. Organization that won the Malcolm Baldrige award in the healthcare system is Mercy Health System in 2007.

Testing Mercy Hospital to full capacity trying to achieve all the requirements that are needed, including leadership, strategic planning, customer Focus, measurement, workforce, focus, operations focus, and results. Mercy Health System’s senior leadership team is committed to achieving organizational excellence through adoption of the Culture of Excellence. The Culture of Excellence is supported by the Four Pillars of Excellence: Quality, Service, Partnering, and Cost and is defined by the visionary strategic goals. Senior leadership adopted a Servant- Leadership Philosophy. This philosophy is founded on the belief that when leaders provide excellent service to partners, partners provide excellent service to customers. This approach inverts the traditional, top-down management style; thus, organizational leaders become facilitators whose role is to serve those who provide value to patients and other stakeholders. Strategic Planning is also a big requirement for the award and the Mercy Health System is a successful integrated healthcare system, a strategy that underlies all planning efforts and is supported by the Culture of Excellence.

Mercy Health System strategic planning consists of quality, servicing, partnering, and cost. For quality the strategic objective is to assure excellence in patient care, promote culture of patient safety, and advance information systems in technology. A long-term action plan is to Utilize caregiver teams to support evidence-based medicine, enhance processes to address national patient safety goals, implement integrated EMR. Short-term action plan would be to Implement concurrent review for core measures patients, improve communication of critical test results process, and apply Design, Build, and Validate phase of clinic. The Service side of strategic planning has a strategic objective to provide exceptional patient care, develop integrated programs and services, and promote community health initiatives. Its long-term action plan is to Maintain Customer Relationship Management committee to ID opportunities; expand Walworth Hospital and Medical Center. Implement initiatives based on community needs assessments.

The short-term action plan will establish MHJ Inpatient PI team; implement action plan, Implement Community Health Center, In Partnering the strategic objectives will be to improve partner satisfaction, promote a safe and healthy work environment, foster a learning organization. A long-term action plan is to develop HR plan based on best practices, Attain Wellness Councils of America recognition, implement a Mercy Learning Center. And a short-term action plan is to Implement enhanced work-life benefits, Implement Employee Health and Wellness action plan. For Cost Strategic Objective is to continue growth initiatives strategies, emphasize cost containment through efficient operations, achieve long-term financial success. The long-term action plan would be to obtain level II trauma designation, maintain a solid budgeting and financial forecasting systems, Maintain solid operating margin. And a short-term action plan is to Complete Level II Trauma Assessment, Improve operations through use of new budgeting system tools, and Restructure long-term financing.

In Customer focus of the award requirement, where Mercy Health System has patient/customer satisfaction surveys, which are customized for each core service area, including inpatient and emergent care, outpatient clinic, post-acute care and retail and insurance products. Service Recovery Program tracks complaint resolution and provides weekly reports to VPs, including detailed complaint reports and run charts on total concerns and the top six categories. Also they use market research to analyze use of studies by Mercy Health System and competitor customers.

Retention/ Referral Analyses is an analyses of patient transfers, medical record transfer requests, HealthLine survey calls MCIC referrals etc. The workforce focus of Mercy Health Systems is to promote excellent services by rewarding/ recognizing best practices, quality outcomes, innovation, teamwork, or partnering initiatives reward superior customer service performance, and reward best practice achievers in Four Pillars. In order to keep these standards a report is annually given to HR Planning Committee. Requirements and processes to meet and exceed requirements are incorporated into the HR Plan and approved by Executive Council. Amazing results have come from the Mercy Health System that made them eligible for the Baldrige award here is a list of their outstanding accomplishments: Mortality Rate is lower then what was expected

Surgical wound infection rates are lower than expected
Consistent decrease in ICU Infection Control
Decrease in Physical Restraint Events
Increase in Post-Acute Influenza Immunizations
Increase in Childhood Immunizations
Increase in Patient Safety Measures
Decrease in Poor Controller Diabetes Management
Increase in A1c Testing, LDL levels below 100, and Eye Exams Increase in Appropriate Asthma Med Use
Increase in Percent Satisfied by Core Service

Increase in ED Satisfaction by both location and Key Indicators Increase in Inpatient Satisfaction by both Key Indictors and Location Among these fantastic achievements Mercy Health System is ranked #2 in nation on AARP’s Best Employers for Workers over 50, they are 16th in Top 100 IHN’s by Modern Healthcare, Outstanding Achievement Certificate for Excellence in Safety, and their Culture of Excellence philosophy is unique in inverting the traditional top-down management style. All which makes the Mercy Health System stand out from the other entire applicant’s for the Baldrige Award, the reason why chose this organization.