KANSAS CITY, Mo. – The U.S. Department of Commerce has selected Saint Luke's Hospital of Kansas City as a recipient of the prestigious Malcolm Baldrige National Quality Award for 2003 in the category of health care. Saint Luke's Hospital is a 582-bed tertiary care hospital offering many special programs and services through a network of physicians representing 57 medical specialties. It is the first business in Kansas City ever to win the award.

Each year, the U.S. Department of Commerce selects up to three companies in the categories of manufacturing, service, small business, education, and health care for the quality excellence award, which is traditionally presented by the President of the United States. The top honor a U.S. company can receive for quality management and quality achievement, the Baldrige Award recognizes organizations for their achievements in quality and performance, and raises awareness about the importance of performance excellence as a competitive edge. Criteria for the award include leadership, strategic planning, customer and market focus, information and analysis, human resource focus, process management, and business results.

“We are honored to have achieved this award,” says Hastings. “It caps off an ongoing quest for quality that started more than a decade ago. This recognition is entirely the result of our employees and physicians, and their commitment to Saint Luke's Hospital's vision to be the best place to get care, and the best place to give care.”

Kansas City, Mo., Mayor Kay Barnes states, “Saint Luke's has a been health care leader and one of the top performing hospitals in the nation for years. Kansas City is fortunate to have the caliber of visionary leadership and quality care that Saint Luke's provides its employees, physicians, and patients. I applaud Saint Luke's Hospital, its employees and physicians in helping to put Kansas City on the map for performance excellence in this community and across the nation.”

Katheryn Shields, Jackson County, Mo., Executive, says, “Saint Luke's has long been a model in health care performance, and a quality advocate that other businesses respect and admire. The Baldrige Award underscores Saint Luke's continual efforts to not only set the standard, but exceed it. I'm proud to congratulate Saint Luke's on this prestigious achievement.”

Saint Luke's Hospital's commitment to total quality and continuous improvement accelerated when it adopted the Malcolm Baldrige National Quality Award Criteria for Performance Excellence as its business model in 1995. Since then, Saint Luke's Hospital has experienced dramatic improvement in all aspects of its business. “Based on the many outstanding practices put in place by Saint Luke's Hospital, the performance results observed are among the best not only in Missouri, but also in the entire country,” says Saint Luke's Health System Vice President, Quality, Sherry Marshall. Saint Luke's Hospital is a three-time recipient of the Missouri Quality Award. The award is Missouri's highest recognition for overall performance excellence and is modeled after the Malcolm Baldrige Award.

Saint Luke's Hospital applied for the Baldrige award in May with a comprehensive application and in September was notified that it would receive a site visit in October. The site visit gave the Baldrige team of examiners a chance to clarify and verify information in the application, and speak to hospital employees on all shifts.

Past recipients include Dana Corp.-Spicer Driveshaft Division; Motorola's Commercial, Government and Industrial Solutions Sector; Los Alamos National Bank; The Ritz-Carlton Hotel Co.; L.L.C., Sunny Fresh Foods; and SSM Health Care.

The U.S. Commerce Department's National Institute of Standards and Technology manages the Baldrige National Quality Program in close cooperation with the private sector. For more information about the Malcolm Baldrige Award program and the National Institute of Standards and Technology, visit www.quality.nist.gov.

Saint Luke's Hospital is a member of Saint Luke's Health System, which consists of nine area hospitals and many primary care practices, and provides a range of primary, acute, tertiary, and chronic care services. The health system is an organization in which the physicians and hospitals, functioning as an integrated unit, assume responsibility for the delivery of comprehensive, cost-effective, quality health care for people in the metropolitan Kansas City area and the surrounding region.