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Washington, DC, Nov. 21, 2006 — President George W. Bush and Commerce Secretary Carlos M. Gutierrez today announced three organizations as recipients of the 2006 Malcolm Baldrige National Quality Award, the nation's highest Presidential honor for organizational performance excellence.

The 2006 Baldrige Award recipients are:

• MESA Products, Inc., Tulsa, Okla. (small business)
  
  
• Premier, Inc., San Diego, Calif. (service)
  
  
• North Mississippi Medical Center, Tupelo, Miss. (healthcare)

"President Bush and I applaud the three 2006 recipients of the prestigious Baldrige Award. With their innovative practices, commitment to excellence and outstanding results, these organizations are among America's best and are role models for any organization striving for world-class performance," said Gutierrez. "The Baldrige Award has grown in stature and is respected and emulated around the world."

The 2006 Baldrige Award recipients were selected from among 76 applicants. All of the applicants were evaluated rigorously by an independent board of examiners in seven areas: leadership; strategic planning; customer and market focus; measurement, analysis, and knowledge management; human resource focus; process management; and results. The evaluation process for the 2006 Baldrige Award recipients included about 1,000 hours of review and an on-site visit by teams of examiners to clarify questions and verify information in the applications.

The 2006 Baldrige Award recipients are expected to be presented with their award in a ceremony in Washington, D.C., early next year.

Named after Malcolm Baldrige, the 26th Secretary of Commerce, the Baldrige Award was established by Congress in 1987 to enhance the competitiveness and performance of U.S. businesses and expanded in 1998 to include education and health care. In 2007, non-profit organizations, including charities, trade and professional associations, and government agencies, will be eligible to receive a Baldrige Award. The award promotes excellence in organizational performance, recognizes the achievements and results of U.S. organizations, and publicizes successful performance strategies. The award may be presented to five types of organizations: manufacturers, service companies, small businesses, education organizations and health care organizations. The award is not given for specific products or services. Since 1988, 67 organizations have received Baldrige Awards. The Baldrige program is managed by NIST [National Institute of Standards and Technology-Ed.] in conjunction with the private sector.

As a non-regulatory agency of the U.S. Department of Commerce's Technology Administration, NIST promotes U.S. innovation and industrial competitiveness by advancing measurement science and standards.

Malcolm Baldrige National Quality Award
2006 Award Recipient, Health Care
North Mississippi Medical Center

Type of Work: North Mississippi Medical Center (NMMC) serves 24 rural counties.Ý It is the largest rural hospital in the country and is Mississippi's largest community-owned hospital. NMMC provides a wide array of inpatient, outpatient, and emergency services.Ý To accommodate specific patient needs, dedicated facilities provide women's health, behavioral health, cancer treatment, and rehabilitation services.

Web site: http://www.nmhs.net/tupelo

Revenues: $460 million

Workforce: 3,875

Location: Tupelo, Mississippi

Highlights
In 2006, NMMC provided community services to 156,750 people through free health fairs, screenings, health education and CPR classes, and immunization programs held throughout the rural region in churches, shopping centers and other locations. Charitable donations, charity care, medical cost savings, and volunteer services total about $70 million annually.

NMMC provides access to an electronic medical record to every care giver throughout its system. Information on the medical record can be retrieved and entered by nurses in schools, by physicians in their offices, and by partner community hospitals across the 24-county region that NMMC serves. This provides current medical information for patients and helps reduce medical errors and duplication of effort. Specialists and primary care providers in remote sites can be linked via a state-of-the-art telemedicine system.Ý

To help achieve its mission "to continuously improve the health of the people of our region," NMMC provides nurses to 23 elementary and middle schools, certified health educators to three schools serving K-5th grade students, and certified athletic trainers to 13 high schools.Ý

At NMMC, a Care-Based Cost Management (CBCM) approach has provided cumulative gains of $11.1 million since 1999 largely as a result of reducing practice variations and medical complications. Debt has decreased from 26.7% to 21.8% in 2006 (year to date). NMMC had $56.5 million in revenue over expenses for 2006, an increase of $29 million over 2005.

In 2006, physician overall satisfaction, measured by Press Ganey, surpassed NMMC's benchmark by 8% to 9% with overall satisfaction and ease of practice scores at 99% and the leadership score at 98%.Ý

Results for inpatient satisfaction demonstrate consistent improvement since 2004. Ý"Likelihood to Recommend" scores improved from about 52% in 2002 to almost 60% in 2005, and in 2006 approach the Press Ganey 90th percentile.Ý (Press Ganey Associates provides satisfaction measurement and improvement services to the healthcare industry.)

Since 2000, overall employee satisfaction exceeded the 90th percentile benchmark levels from Human Resources, Inc.

Through tuition reimbursement and other activities, NMMC allocates more than $1.4 million annually to help employees upgrade skills and advance careers.Ý

Malcolm Baldrige National Quality Award
2006 Award Recipient, Service
Premier, Inc.

Type of Work: Premier, Inc., is a healthcare strategic alliance entirely owned by not-for-profit hospitals and health system organizations. The 200 owners operate or are affiliated with more than 1,500 hospitals and thousands of non-hospital sites such as nursing homes and ambulatory centers. Owners participate to share needed services and programs aimed at improving clinical quality and cost-effectiveness. Premier's three business units provide the following services: group purchasing and supply chain management, insurance and risk management, and informatics and performance improvement. Premier systematically strives to achieve its "Big Hairy Audacious Goal": ÝPremier's Owners will be the leading healthcare systems in their markets, and with them, Premier will be a major influence in reshaping healthcare.

Web site: http://www.premierinc.com

Revenues: $500 million

Workforce: 932 employees

Location: San Diego, California; Charlotte, North Carolina; Washington, D.C.; Field staff located across the United States

Highlights
From 2002 to 2006, consolidated pre-tax operating income increased from approximately $140 million to approximately $223 million in 2006, exceeding or equaling that of Premier's largest single competitor.Ý Operating margin percentage increased from 35% in 2003 to 50% in 2006 and exceeded that of Premier's largest single competitor in all years. In addition, operating expenses have remained well below those of Premier's top competitor.

Savings and cash returns to Premier's hospital owners have increased from approximately $180 million in 2002 to $804 million in 2006.Ý

As an indirect measure of customer-perceived value, retention of hospital members has remained strong and increased from 94% in 2002 to approximately 97% in 2006.Ý

Premier has taken a leadership role in promoting best practices in ethical conduct, transparency, and accountability within its industry and created the Healthcare Group Purchasing Industry Initiative to promote and monitor best ethical practices in purchasing for hospitals and other healthcare providers.

Premier utilizes systematic approaches to focus on the career development of employees, including the Ph.D. Program, The Leadership College, and tuition reimbursement. Results demonstrate that these efforts are paying off: The percent of vacancies filled internally improved from 20% in 2003 to 32% in 2006, and has exceeded the Watson Wyatt and Saratoga (two national survey groups) best practice benchmarks of 22% for the past 3 years.

Premier's Informatics Business Unit market share, as measured by number of clients, exceeds its nearest competitor by more than two-fold, making it the largest provider in the nation for comparison data for hospitals and related organizations.

Source: National Institute of Standards and Technology