Consumers Choose Baylor Dallas for National Award Based on Quality and Image

DALLAS, Nov. 3, 2010 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- For the fifteenth consecutive year Baylor University Medical Center at Dallas (Baylor Dallas) has earned the Consumer Choice Award by the National Research Corporation (NRC) for the Dallas region in the categories of Best Overall Quality and Best Image/Reputation. The Consumer Choice Award is given to the hospitals that consumers have chosen as having the highest quality and image in 250 markets throughout the U.S. This is the fifteenth year NRC has recognized Consumer Choice Award winners and the fifteenth occasion that consumers have chosen Baylor Dallas for these awards.

Award winners are determined by gauging consumer perceptions on multiple quality and image ratings collected in the company's annual NRC Healthcare Market Guide Ticker™ study (HCMG). Of the 3,200 hospitals named by consumers in the study, the winning facilities rank highest in their Metropolitan Statistical Areas, as defined by the U.S. Census Bureau. The 2010/2011 HCMG study surveyed more than 250,000 households representing 450,000 consumers in the contiguous 48 states and the District of Columbia.

"Providing quality, compassionate care to our patients is the goal of every employee and physician on the medical staff at Baylor Dallas," says John B. McWhorter, the hospital's president. "To have our patients recognize that commitment and select Baylor as the quality and image leader in the Dallas region for the fifteenth consecutive year is very gratifying."

The 2010/2011 Healthcare Market Guide is the nation's largest and most comprehensive study of its kind. No other study used to rate hospitals contains more consumer responses than the NRC study. The study has a margin of error of + or - 0.2 percent at a national level. National Research Corporation (Nasdaq: NRCI) is a recognized industry leader, with more than two decades of experience in healthcare specific performance measurement.

About Baylor Health Care System:

Baylor Health Care System is a faith-based, not-for-profit health care provider serving nearly 1.4 million patients through its network of 212 access points. Baylor University Medical Center at Dallas, a major research and teaching facility for the Southwest, anchors the Baylor network which includes a total of 25 hospitals. In addition, access points include: ambulatory surgical/endoscopy centers, satellite outpatient locations, senior centers, and physician clinics through the HealthTexas Provider Network. Patient-centered medical research is conducted at the Baylor Research Institute and fundraising to support the System's mission is led by the Baylor Health Care System Foundation.

Baylor employs more than 20,000, making it the third largest private-sector employer in the Dallas/Fort Worth Metroplex. More than 4,500 physicians comprise the current medical staff. For fiscal year 2009, Baylor recorded $3.9 billion in total assets and $452.4 million community benefit.

Known for its quality initiatives, Baylor became the first health care system in the State of Texas to receive the National Quality Healthcare Award from the National Quality Forum. Baylor University Medical Center at Dallas has been named in US News & World Report's "Best Hospitals" guide for 17 consecutive years and has the highest patient satisfaction ratings of any teaching hospital in the country according to Consumer Reports.

For more information, visit BaylorHealth.com.

SOURCE Baylor Health Care System