We believe the Baldrige Program is one of the greatest opportunities healthcare leaders have to improve the quality outcomes and overall performance of our nation's healthcare organizations. We salute the numerous healthcare organizations using the Baldrige framework in their pursuit of performance excellence, and we celebrate those that have achieved award-worthy results.

Baldrige Healthcare Award Recipients Outperform Their Peers

A 2011 National Institute of Standards and Technology, U.S. Dept. of Commerce, study found healthcare organizations that have won Baldrige National Quality Awards for performance excellence—or have been considered for a Baldrige Award site visit—outperform other hospitals in nearly every metric used to determine the 100 Top Hospitals.

Commissioned by the Foundation for the Malcolm Baldrige National Quality Award, a private organization, and conducted by Thomson Reuters, the study found that Baldrige hospitals were six times more likely to be counted among the 100 Top Hospitals, which represent the top 3 percent of hospitals in the United States, and that they statistically outperform the 100 Top Hospitals on core measures established by the U.S. Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services.

More Than Any Other Industry, Healthcare Adopting Baldrige

In 1999, the Baldrige Program was expanded to include the healthcare industry. In all but one year since 2005, healthcare organizations have made up at least 50 percent of the award applicants, more than all other sectors combined. The value and impact for healthcare organizations that adopt the holistic framework for organizational improvement is well-established and publicized.

Study Shows Baldrige Creates Great Value for the U.S. Economy

In 2001, the Baldrige Program commissioned a study to evaluate the net social value of the program. In 2011, the Baldrige Foundation asked the same economists to take a new look and see if the benefit still existed and to quantify it based on actual applicant data.

The study showed an impressive benefit-to-cost ratio of 820 to 1. The ratio is derived from the implementation of cost savings, gains from consumer satisfaction, and gains from increased value of sales in excess of resource costs of those organizations that have applied for the Malcolm Baldrige National Quality Award.