NEW PRODUCTS
Baldrige criteria offer overall move to quality
Model adapted for health care puts results first
Medical groups often focus attention on one identified problem area, such as access to appointments, in a quality improvement project. But is that method too narrow? Are they missing other, related opportunities to improve? A new consulting service offered by Stratis Health of Bloomington, MN, uses the Malcolm Baldrige Health Care Criteria for Performance Excellence to assess the entire organization, then help implement changes to drive continuous improvement.
"What often happens is an organization decides to measure a particular outcome. They measure it, but they never understand the framework [behind it]," says Paul Grizzell, MBA, director of consulting services for Stratis Health. "[The Baldrige assessment] looks at the organization in a holistic way."
The Baldrige Health Care Criteria, developed in 1995, are a version of the Baldrige criteria developed for general businesses. The seven categories are: leadership; strategic planning; focus on patients, other customers, and market; information and analysis; staff focus; process management; and organizational performance results. "The categories are weighted to give you a score based on [data from] high-performing organizations," says Grizzell. Yet the criteria are not rigid. Medical groups can customize them by determining what is most important to their particular practices, he says. For example, the mission and processes of a small, single-specialty medical practice may differ from that of a large, multispecialty group.
In the business model, the Baldrige assessment generally places greatest emphasis on customer satisfaction and financial and market results. In the health care version, "the greatest weighting is put on health care results," he says. "This acknowledges that the most important thing for a health care organization is making or keeping people well."
Even with some customization among medical groups or other health care organizations, the criteria "help bring a common language of quality to the health care industry," says Grizzell. "There are so many definitions of what quality is. This rolls it all together.
A Baldrige assessment begins with a survey of leaders and staff about the areas they feel are most in need of improvement. They respond to 60 behaviorally based statements, such as "All leaders and managers review the organization’s performance against goals." (See sample questions, inserted in this issue.) Their written comments are also collected. In smaller organizations, every employee and leader may be surveyed; in large groups, a representative sample could be used.
Through this assessment, leadership can learn about problems identified by staff that they hadn’t even been aware of, says Grizzell. After a year of work on improvements, the medical group can repeat the assessment to measure progress, he says. "We use it as a tool for organizations to focus their improvement efforts."
Editor’s note: For more information on the Baldrige Express assessment, contact Paul Grizzell, Director of Consulting Services, Stratis Health, 2901 Metro Drive, Suite 400, Bloomington, MN 55425-1525. Telephone: (612) 853-8501. Fax: (612) 858-9189. World Wide Web: http://www.stratishealth.org.
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