Collin County Hospital Takes Top Quality Texas Award

PLANO, Texas, April 19 /PRNewswire/ -- Baylor Regional Medical Center at Plano is the 2010 recipient for the Texas Award for Performance Excellence (TAPE).  The hospital received this honor from the Quality Texas Foundation, a non-profit Texas corporation that administers the Texas Award for Performance Excellence.

Only 35 companies have received the TAPE since the non-profit Quality Texas Foundation was founded in 1993 by the Texas Governor's Office.  Patterned after the national Malcolm Baldrige Award established by Congress in 1987, the TAPE is awarded to companies that have applied the rigorous Baldrige-based methodology to achieve and sustain world-class performance in their day-to-day operations.

"Receiving this award is a tribute," says Jerri Garison, president, Baylor Plano, "to the dedicated efforts of our medical staff, board of trustees, employees and volunteers to always focus on quality at all levels of our hospital."  

As a TAPE recipient, Baylor Plano becomes a role-model organization to others, and Baylor Plano staff will make several presentations to attendees at the Quality Texas Foundation conference this summer.  Baylor Plano is only the seventh hospital to receive the TAPE.

The TAPE is an annual recognition of organizations that excel in performance, and the application of quality and customer service principles.  It is given to role-model organizations that demonstrate exceptional performance in all areas of management including leadership, customer service, workforce focus, process management, data analysis, business results and strategic planning.

"Applying for the TAPE is really about getting objective feedback based on the Malcolm Baldrige Award," says Pat Cooper, RHIA, director of healthcare improvement, (quality management), Baylor Plano.  "The process of applying for the award focuses an organization's attention on all aspects of operations from senior leadership to people providing hands-on care to patients and families."

The quest for the TAPE begins with a 50-page application submitted to the Quality Texas Foundation.  Then, a team of certified examiners conduct a comprehensive site visit, spending three days verifying every aspect of the application.

"The examiners want to see that the hospital leadership's goals and expectations have been deployed to the front-line staff," explains Cooper.  "They met with our senior leadership, managers and key committees for two days.  On the final day, the examiners walked the patient floors, talking with front-line staff."

Baylor Plano is the first Collin County hospital to receive this honor within the Baylor Health Care System.  In 2009, Baylor Regional Medical Center at Grapevine won the TAPE.

About Baylor Regional Medical Center at Plano

Baylor Regional Medical Center at Plano is a 112-bed acute care hospital committed to serving North Texas residents with personalized care and advanced technology. Services at the not-for-profit, fully-accredited facility include treatment for advanced spine deformities at the Baylor Scoliosis Center, neurosciences, orthopaedics, medical and radiation oncology, surgical weight loss, women's services, gynecology, urology, gastroenterology, pulmonary medicine, sleep disorders, pain management, and diabetes management.

The hospital has won several quality awards and is designated a Nurse-Friendly™ hospital by Texas Nurses Association.  For fiscal year 2009, Baylor Health Care System reported $452.4 million in community benefit, which includes providing care for charity patients and patients enrolled in government programs such as Medicare and Medicaid, as well as the unreimbursed costs of medical education, research and community programs. For more information, visit www.baylorhealth.com/Plano.

SOURCE Baylor Regional Medical Center at Plano