Methodist Healthcare Receives Texas Award for Performance Excellence

SAN ANTONIO, March 28, 2014 /PRNewswire/ -- Methodist Healthcare has been selected to receive the Texas Award for Performance Excellence (TAPE) from the Quality Texas Foundation, representing the highest level of quality an organization can achieve in the state of Texas. Methodist Healthcare is the first and only health care system in South Texas and the third organization in San Antonio to receive the TAPE award since the inception of the award in 1994.

Utilizing the same criteria and process as the Malcolm Baldrige National Quality Award, the Texas Award for Performance Excellence is an annual recognition of Texas organizations that have achieved performance excellence and have applied outstanding quality principles in their day-to-day operations. TAPE winners are role model organizations demonstrating exceptional performance in all areas of organizational management - leadership, strategic planning, customer focus, measurement, analysis and knowledge management, workforce focus, operations focus and results. 

"This award is a validation of the hard work our employees, physicians, volunteers and board members have accomplished over the past years in Methodist Healthcare's journey to excellence," stated Jaime Wesolowski, President and CEO, Methodist Healthcare. "Our commitment to quality and process improvement enables us to provide better service and outcomes to our patients and that is what drives us to be nothing less than excellent," continued Wesolowski.

There are many milestones the health system has achieved in its journey; a few quality indicators the system excels in are:

• Evidenced Based Care Measures (Composite Core Measures) are in the top 10 percent of the nation, for those care interventions known to improve patient mortality and complications.
• The Methodist Healthcare in-hospital mortality is only 50 percent of what is expected given the severity of illness levels of Methodist patients. For Methodist this translates into 530 fewer patients dying each year than should be expected.
• The Patient Safety Indicator (PSI) 90 is a composite score of several in-hospital patient complications. Methodist Healthcare scores significantly lower (better) at 0.46 than the national average of 0.6, indicating a much lower hospital complication rate than most hospitals.

State examiners from the TAPE Baldrige-based program visited Methodist Healthcare hospitals in January to evaluate how well employees, physicians, volunteers and board members demonstrate and standardize excellence across the system. Methodist will receive a detailed report from Quality Texas Foundation on the health system's strengths and opportunities for improvement. Methodist staff will use the report to prepare for the national Baldrige process as part of the System's continuing pursuit of excellence.

Methodist Healthcare will receive the award at the Texas Quest for Excellence Conference on June 23, in Addison, Texas.

About TAPE
Administered by the Quality Texas Foundation, the Texas Award for Performance Excellence was established in 1993. The award is open to government, education, health care, non-profit and other businesses. These organizations go through a rigorous application process where quality and performance excellence must be demonstrated on a variety of measures including: organizational leadership; strategic planning; focus on customers; measurement, analysis and knowledge management; workforce focus; process management; and results.

Methodist Healthcare System – Journey to Excellence
Methodist Healthcare System of San Antonio began as Methodist Hospital, chartered in 1955 by the United Methodist Church.  Since that time, Methodist Healthcare has grown to what is now the largest health care provider in South and Central Texas with 27 facilities, including nine acute care hospitals serving over 90,000 inpatients and 390,000 outpatients annually, expanding its vision of world class health care to San Antonio and 26 surrounding counties.

Methodist's ownership structure is a 50/50 co-ownership between not-for-profit Methodist Healthcare Ministries and for-profit Hospital Corporation of America (HCA) which is a truly unique business model for health systems in the country. With equal partnership control, Methodist Healthcare assures a dynamic balance in its mission: serving humanity to honor God by providing exceptional and cost-effective health care accessible to all.  Methodist Healthcare Ministries broadens Methodist Healthcare's community outreach through its services to the underserved and dollars to community organizations and to its own clinics; Methodist Healthcare Ministries has provided over $500 million to the community since its inception in 1995.

Led by a culture of Methodist Excellence, the nearly 9,000 staff and volunteers combined with a medical staff of over 2,500, dedicate themselves to continuous quality improvement by committing to live by the mission, vision and values of Methodist Excellence. Six pillars of excellence are embedded in Methodist Excellence (people, service, quality, growth, finance and community); department, hospital and system strategic goals are developed under each pillar and provide a framework for achieving sustained organizational success. 

At the heart of Methodist Excellence is the System's core competency, "building partnerships to serve our community." This guiding principle defines the essence of MHS partnerships: (1) community centered, (2) patient focused, and (3) physician driven.

Methodist Excellence is the foundation of all aspects of the health care system; from the hiring process to strategic planning, and ultimately to excellence in quality patient care.

The journey to excellence has led Methodist Healthcare to achieve many awards for clinical excellence and quality outcomes, as well innovation and people's choice awards. Receiving the Texas Award for Performance Excellence is a testament to Methodist Healthcare being selected as the most preferred and trusted health care provider each and every year.

Contact: Palmira Arellano, 210-325-2295
VP, Marketing and Public Relations

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SOURCE Methodist Healthcare