COOKEVILLE – Cookeville Regional Medical Center has earned the Commitment Award in the annual Excellence in Tennessee recognition program administered by the Tennessee Center for Performance Excellence (TNCPE). TNCPE is Tennessee’s only statewide quality program and is patterned on the Baldrige Performance Excellence Program, the national standard for recognizing role model performance through innovation, improvement, and visionary leadership.
Cookeville Regional accepted the award at the 26thAnnual Excellence in Tennessee Awards Banquet held on Feb. 28, 2019. Cookeville Regional was one of 12 organizations that received the Commitment Award in the state of Tennessee.
“This achievement would not be possible without the support of the Board of Trustees, and the hard work of our staff and physicians,” said Paul Korth, CEO at Cookeville Regional Medical Center. “Their dedication to providing high-quality care to the patients in our region is admirable, and because of that, we are able to accept the Commitment Award.”
Through an annual evaluation and assessment process, TNCPE recognizes high-performing organizations that demonstrate continuous improvement and role model processes. This year, TNCPE has named 17 organizations as 2018 Award winners that represent outstanding achievement in the following industry sectors: health care, manufacturing, service, education, government, and nonprofit.
“Tennessee is better when organizations are committed to excellence,” former Gov. Bill Haslam said. “I congratulate Cookeville Regional Medical Centeron its efforts to pursue the highest standards for customers and employees and thank them for making significant contributions to the state’s economy and wellbeing of citizens.”
Organizations apply to the TNCPE program at one of four levels. Cookeville Regional applied at a level two. As the levels increase, so does the depth and complexity of the application, which is based on the Baldrige Excellence Framework™. Since the program was founded in 1993, only 25 organizations have attained the Excellence designation.
“We will continue to pursue excellence at Cookeville Regional Medical Center,” said Korth. “Several of our hospital’s administration has gone through the actual TNCPE program, and we plan to see more of our employees participating in that management training. The goal is greater focus on patient care and meeting even more expectations with better quality outcomes. This creates a better workplace and a better hospital environment.”
Commitment Awards are presented to organizations that are beginning to demonstrate serious commitment to, and implementation of, performance improvement principles. They have demonstrated progress by identifying and putting in place a measurement system to capture data and analyze results, and some key process improvements, which are directly attributable to a fact-based improvement process.
“TNCPE’s mission is to drive performance excellence across Tennessee and the Southeast, and one of the ways we do that is through the Awards Program,” said TNCPE President, Tamera Fields Parsons. “Organizations being recognized this year have decided they want to be the best they can be for their customers, their workforce, and for all their stakeholders. They have demonstrated a strong commitment to improvement and have chosen TNCPE and the Baldrige framework as their path to excellence, and I am proud to be associated with these organizations. ”
A full list of winners can be found on the TNCPE website www.tncpe.org
For more information on the Baldrige Performance Excellence Program, visit www.nist.gov/baldrige/.
