Philip Gustafson, President
and CEO, St. Mary's Good Samaritan
Naperville, IL – (January 20, 2012) Illinois Performance Excellence announces St. Mary’s Good Samaritan is a recipient of the 2011 Gold Award for “Achievement of Excellence” for demonstrating sound and notable continuous improvement principles. The ILPEx Gold Award is the highest award an organization can receive in the State of Illinois recognizing organizational performance excellence.
ILPEx has recognized only eight other organizations at this level, since its inception in 1994 and St. Mary’s Good Samaritan is the first to receive the award twice. St. Mary’s Good Samaritan will be formally honored at the 17th annual award recognition ceremony, “Saluting Excellence,” on January 20, 2012, held at the Tellabs’ offices located in Naperville.
“Congratulations to St. Mary’s Good Samaritan and all of its employees for being a role model and to an on-going journey to excellence,” says Darcy Davidsmeyer, President and CEO of Illinois Performance Excellence. “As a recipient of ILPEx’s highest honor, it is recognized for its demonstration of how teamwork and a shared vision can lead not only to organizational success but also to advancements in continuous improvement, sustainability and economic vitality for the State of Illinois.”
Recipients of the ILPEx Gold Award go to those organizations which have demonstrated effective, systematic well-deployed approaches that respond to the multiple requirements of most items in the Malcolm Baldrige Criteria for Performance Excellence and are integrated to meet organizational needs. Recipients of this award are considered role models for other Illinois-based organizations and, thus, are honored with the highest level of recognition. The Malcolm Baldrige Performance Excellence Program is the nation’s public-private partnership dedicated to performance excellence by health care facilities throughout the United States.
We’re very proud to be the first two-time winner of the Gold Award from Illinois Performance Excellence,” said Philip Gustafson, President and CEO of St. Mary’s Good Samaritan. “Illinois Performance Excellence has served as the catalyst to help us better understand and improve our organization. It has allowed us to integrate our processes, systems, and organizational units so that we are focused on what’s most important – the provision of exceptional health care services.”
St. Mary’s Good Samaritan is a Catholic, not-for-profit organization comprised of two acute care hospitals and an ambulatory network with 23 outpatient locations encompassing community-based Family Health Centers, outpatient psychiatry offices, Work Safety Institutes, and a physician management company which employs 51 physicians/nurse practitioners/physicians assistants.
St. Mary’s Good Samaritan was created in 1996 through a unique and visionary joint operating agreement (JOA) which was formed to better coordinate, facilitate and better utilize resources throughout the region. The organization is jointly sponsored by SSM Health Care, the first Malcolm Baldrige Award winner in healthcare and the managing partner of the JOA, and Felician Services, Inc.
St. Mary’s Good Samaritan has been committed to continuous quality improvement (CQI) since 1990 and was an early adopter of these improvement methods. Likewise, the organization began using Baldrige criteria when it was being pilot tested by the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST). Staff attended the National Quest Conference and brought back a management paradigm that allowed all leaders to learn what it meant to “walk the talk” for quality. Over time, the organization has enhanced its early CQI approach with Lean and 6 Sigma, incorporating these into the planning process and shared governance.
About Illinois Performance Excellence
Illinois Performance Excellence (ILPEx) empowers organizations to understand and use the framework of the Baldrige Criteria for Performance Excellence, moving to a systematic “view” which translates into alignment and sustainability. As a 501 (C) (3) non-profit organization, ILPEx’s vision is to create a culture of excellence that is pervasive throughout Illinois. For more information on how your organization can benefit from services provided by Illinois Performance Excellence visit www.ilpex.org