National Quality Forum Names Baylor Health Care System Winner of 2008 NQF National Quality Healthcare Award

The National Quality Forum (NQF) announced today that Baylor Health Care System is the 15th winner of the 2008 NQF National Quality Healthcare Award. The award recognizes exemplary healthcare organizations who are role models for achieving meaningful, sustainable quality improvement in healthcare, and is presented in partnership with Modern Healthcare magazine and Studer Group. 

The NQF National Quality Healthcare Award will be presented to Baylor at a gala event on May 15, 2008, in Washington DC. 

"We are honored to receive this very prestigious award from the National Quality Forum," said Joel Allison, president and CEO, Baylor Health Care System. "At Baylor, our health care team is continuously working to develop innovative, evidence-based protocols that positively impact the health of our patients and our community. We want to change clinical processes, practice, and technologies to enhance patient care and provide a more efficient system for care givers, creating consistency in the delivery of care and ultimately improving outcomes." 

The National Quality Forum is a private, not-for-profit public benefit corporation whose mission is to improve the quality of American healthcare by setting national priorities for improving quality, endorsing performance measures, and promoting the attainment of national goals. The NQF represents the spectrum of diverse stakeholders across the public and private health sectors. 

Criteria for the 2008 NQF National Quality Healthcare Award included:

  • effective prioritization of performance improvement goals,
  • well-designed and deployed "dashboard" to measure and manage whole system performance,
  • data-driven improvement of chronic care,
  • commitment to transparency, and
  • demonstrated results on publicly reported performance measures.

"NQF's panel of judges was deeply impressed by Baylor Health Care System's focus on quality measurement and improvement and their commitment to building a culture of transparency," said National Quality Forum President and CEO Janet Corrigan. "In a strong pool of applicants, Baylor stood out as an exemplary model for raising the bar of health system performance to achieve higher levels of quality, safety, and efficiency for the patients they serve." 

The National Quality Healthcare Award was created in 1993 as the first award of its kind to recognize outstanding quality-driven healthcare organizations. For 15 years, first through the National Committee for Quality Health Care and now through the National Quality Forum, the award has provided encouragement for improvements in quality through public recognition of organizations' accomplishments. 

Earlier in February, Baylor Health Care System was awarded The Leapfrog Group's first ever Patient-Centered Care Award given for having a board of trustees who has most successfully driven the creation of a true partnership between patients and their caregivers. The award recognizes excellence in areas such as: how informed the board is on quality, safety and patient experience within the organization; how well integrated are patient advocates into the organization at every level; and for having a policy in place for disclosing medical errors to patients and/or their families. 

The mission of the National Quality Forum is to improve the quality of American healthcare by setting national priorities and goals for performance improvement, endorsing national consensus standards for measuring and publicly reporting on performance, and promoting the attainment of national goals through education and outreach programs. NQF, a non-profit organization (qualityforum.org) with diverse stakeholders across the public and private health sectors, was established in 1999 and is based in Washington, DC. 

Baylor Health Care System is a network of hospitals, primary care and specialty care centers, rehabilitation clinics, affiliated ambulatory surgery centers and the Baylor Research Institute. One of the largest private-sector employers in Dallas/Fort Worth, Baylor employs more than 16,500 people and has more than 2,700 physicians on its medical staffs. Baylor University Medical Center at Dallas, flagship hospital of the system, is a major patient care, teaching and research center for the Southwest. For fiscal year 2007, Baylor Health Care System reported $390 million in community benefit to the Texas Department of State Health Services.

About Baylor Scott & White Health
As the largest not-for-profit health system in the state of Texas, Baylor Scott & White promotes the health and well-being of every individual, family and community it serves. It is committed to making quality care more accessible, convenient and affordable through its integrated delivery network, which includes the Baylor Scott & White Health Plan, Baylor Scott & White Research Institute, the Baylor Scott & White Quality Alliance and its leading digital health platform – MyBSWHealth. Through 51 hospitals and more than 1,200 access points, including flagship academic medical centers in Dallas, Fort Worth and Temple, the system offers the full continuum of care, from primary to award-winning specialty care. Founded as a Christian ministry of healing more than a century ago, Baylor Scott & White today serves more than three million Texans. For more information, visit: BSWHealth.com