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Originally Released: November, 1997
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UNIVERSITY OF MARYLAND MEDICAL CENTER WINS COVETED AWARD FOR QUALITY

The University of Maryland Medical Center has been awarded the coveted U.S. Senate Productivity Award for 1997, the first health care provider to win since the competition was established in 1984.

"This is a feather in the cap of our employees, for whom service is first and foremost," said University of Maryland Medical System President and CEO Morton I. Rapoport, M.D. "The Productivity Award signifies that we are meeting our goals of providing quality of care, excellence in service, respect for the individual, and quality in education and research, while becoming more cost effective."

The award was presented by Sens. Paul S. Sarbanes and Barbara Mikulski at a ceremony Oct. 29 at 8:15 a.m. at the 1997 Maryland Excellence Conference at Martin's West. It is presented annually to Maryland organizations that demonstrate outstanding achievements in quality and productivity based on standards set for the prestigious Malcolm Baldrige National Quality Award. An independent team selected the University of Maryland Medical Center based on how well the organization fulfilled 23 criteria in leadership, strategic planning, customer and market focus, information and analysis, human resources development and management, process management, and business results.

Typically, Productivity Awards are given to organizations in the manufacturing, service and public sectors. This year, only the University of Maryland Medical Center, which competed in the service sector, won the highest honor. The competition is sponsored by The Maryland Center for Quality & Productivity of the Maryland Business School at College Park.

The non-profit University of Maryland Medical Center became a private institution only 13 years ago after half a century as a public hospital facing constant fiscal crisis.

"We are especially honored to be the first health care organization recognized as a leader in improving quality and efficiency in the face of incredible financial pressures of an increasingly complex marketplace," Rapoport said. "This award recognizes our sustained high performance and our increases in patient volume and satisfaction in an intensely competitive environment."

"The process of competing for the Senate Productivity Award was useful for us in learning how to improve our services to patients, physicians and payers," said Vice President for Clinical Quality Systems Barbara Davis. "Each criterion that was judged is a fundamental element of meeting our mission of serving the people of Maryland and the region," she said.

The Medical Center employs 5,500 people and provides a full range of medical services -- preventive, acute, chronic and long-term -- to residents of Maryland and the mid-Atlantic region. It is a recognized leader in trauma care, organ transplants, neurocare, women's and children's services and cancer treatment and research.

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This page was last updated on: March 9, 2009.