Memorial Hospital and Health Care Center exemplifies the profound impact of adopting the Baldrige Performance Excellence Model in overcoming healthcare challenges in the United States. Since implementing this framework, the center consistently achieved exceptional performance, earning a prestigious 5-star rating from the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) for inpatient care quality every year since these ratings commenced. Additionally, its strategic alignment with CMS’s Value-Based Payment system has consistently placed it within the top 10 percent of healthcare providers nationally since 2017.
The hospital has set remarkable national benchmarks in patient safety and care outcomes, including maintaining zero early elective deliveries before 39 weeks since 2015, eliminating pressure ulcers in its skilled care center since 2016, completely preventing central-line-associated bloodstream infections since 2016, and successfully averting hospital-acquired methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA) infections since 2015.
Further affirming its leadership in patient safety, Memorial Hospital has continuously earned an “A” rating from the Leapfrog Hospital Safety Grade since 2016. Key safety advancements driven by Baldrige principles include a substantial reduction in total patient harm incidents from 6.2 to 1.1 per 1,000 patient days between 2016 and 2018. Moreover, the hospital has sustained a bedside medication verification rate exceeding 97 percent, surpassing Leapfrog’s national benchmarks from 2013 to 2018, and has consistently ranked in the top 10 percentile nationally for PSI-90 patient safety composite scores since 2017.
These strategic improvements have firmly established Memorial Hospital’s market dominance within its community. Prior to its 2018 Baldrige Award recognition, the hospital maintained over 70 percent of inpatient market share and more than 80 percent of outpatient market share in its primary service area, significantly outpacing competitors who each held less than 10 percent. This case demonstrates the transformative potential of the Baldrige Performance Excellence Model to drive sustained excellence and innovation in healthcare organizations.