U.S. Commerce Secretary Penny Pritzker named four organizations as the 2016 recipients of the Malcolm Baldrige National Quality Award, the nation’s highest Presidential honor for sustainable excellence through visionary leadership, organizational alignment, systemic improvement and innovation. This year’s recipients—two small businesses and two health care providers—represent four states, including the first awardee from Idaho; and feature four distinctly different operations, including the first winner ever from the long-term care and rehabilitation field and the first awardee from the textile industry since 1989.

The 2016 Baldrige Award recipients—listed with their category—are:

• Don Chalmers Ford, Rio Rancho, New Mexico (small business)
• Momentum Group, Irvine, California (small business)
• Kindred Nursing and Rehabilitation Center - Mountain Valley, Kellogg, Idaho (health care)
• Memorial Hermann Sugar Land Hospital, Sugar Land, Texas (health care)

“This year’s honorees are trailblazers in innovation, small business, health care and sustainable textiles. Their visionary leadership is helping to power the economy and increase our ability to compete globally,” said Secretary Pritzker. “The Commerce Department proudly supports these four outstanding organizations for their unwavering commitment to performance excellence and their dedication to always reaching higher.”

The Commerce Department’s National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) manages the Baldrige Award in cooperation with the private sector. An independent board of examinersrecommended this year’s Baldrige Award recipients from a field of 34 applicants after evaluating them in seven areas defined by the Baldrige Excellence Framework: leadership; strategy; customers; measurement, analysis and knowledge management; workforce; operations; and results. An organization may compete for the award in one of six categories: manufacturing, service, small business, health care, education and nonprofit (including government agencies).

“We are particularly excited about the diversity of the organizations being recognized this year,” said Robert Fangmeyer, director of the Baldrige Performance Excellence Program. “Like those before them, the 2016 honorees have created robust processes and cultures that focus on benefitting their customers, workforce and communities, and in doing so, have achieved outstanding operational and business results.”

To date, more than 1,600 U.S. organizations have applied for the Baldrige Award, and there are more than 30 independent Baldrige-based state and regional award programs covering nearly all 50 states. Internationally, the program has served as a model for nearly 100 excellence programs. In addition, many organizations use the Baldrige framework for its improvement and innovation strategies without applying for any of these awards.

During the period 2010-2014, more than 4 million copies of the Baldrige Criteria for Performance Excellence, the core of the Baldrige Framework, were distributed. Their widespread acceptance and use both nationally and globally has dramatically impacted all types of organizations.

Take for example, these achievements by the 2016 Baldrige Award winners:

• New employees at Don Chalmers Ford (DCF) are mentored by senior leaders and work with the general manager using the firm’s “How I Connect” guide that aligns each individual’s role to the company’s core values and to delivering the “DCF Experience.” This has helped increase the retention rate of sales consultants from 56.3 percent in 2011 to 71.4 percent in 2015, and increase gross profit by 13 percent for 2012-2015. Both marks are significantly higher than the national averages of 26 percent and 8.4 percent, respectively.
• In support of its core value of “bettering the world around us,” Momentum Group was the first in its industry to offer a full textile product line of reduced environmental impact fabrics. In just over two decades, Momentum Group’s sales have grown more than 400 percent and have outperformed the industry for 19 years out of the 22 that the firm has been in business.
• For seven consecutive years, Kindred Nursing and Rehabilitation Center—Mountain Valleyhas achieved a five-star quality rating—the highest possible—from the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid, a ranking designed to help potential residents, families and caregivers compare nursing homes. Less than one percent of 15,600 skilled nursing facilities nationwide received the five-star rating over that period of time.
• Memorial Hermann Sugar Land Hospital ranks among the top 10 percent nationally for a number of performance metrics, including emergency center arrival-to-discharge time, compliance with regulations to reduce medication errors, bed turnaround times, radiology and laboratory result turnaround times, and the use of computerized physician order entry.

The Baldrige judges also may recognize best practices in one or more of the Baldrige Criteria categories by organizations that are candidates for the award but are not selected as a recipient. This year, the judges have chosen six organizations for this honor (listed with the categories for which they are acknowledged):

• City of Fort Collins, Fort Collins, Colorado—leadership
• Kaiser Permanente San Diego, San Diego, California—leadership
• Maury Regional Medical Center, Columbia, Tennessee—leadership
• Duke University Hospital, Durham, North Carolina—leadership and strategy
• Park Place Lexus of Texas, Plano, Texas—customers
• Southern Management Corporation, Vienna, Virginia—workforce

The 2016 Baldrige Award will be presented at an April 2017 ceremony during the Quest for Excellence conference in Baltimore, Md.

The Baldrige Program raises awareness about the importance of performance excellence in driving the U.S. and global economy; provides organizational assessments, training, tools and criteria; educates leaders in businesses, schools, health care organizations, and government and nonprofit organizations; shares the best practices of national role models; and recognizes those role models with the Baldrige Award. The Baldrige Program is a public-private partnership managed by NIST and funded through user fees and the financial support of the Baldrige Foundation(link is external).

The Baldrige Award was established by Congress in 1987 and is not given for specific products or services. Since the first group was recognized in 1988, 113 awards have been presented to 106 organizations (including seven repeat recipients).

For more information, visit the Baldrige Performance Excellence Program website.