Are we making progress? A case study using the baldrige assessment tool

The Baldrige Criteria for Performance Excellence (CPE) program has two assessment tools: "Are We Making Progress?" and "Are We Making Progress as Leaders?" (referred to here as AWMP). These assessments, administered via survey questionnaire, give any organization the opportunity to develop a self-diagnostic at any time. However, guidance is lacking in the administration of the assessments and the interpretation of its results. The purpose of this paper is to describe a method to administrate the assessments, and transform its results to scoring values, providing any organization the opportunity to measure itself in each section of the CPE. This paper describes a case study using the AWMP tool in a 500-bed hospital. As a result of the assessment, the hospital became more aware of its relative performance with respect to other healthcare organizations (using the Baldrige CPE scoring system) and the hospital identified a comprehensive list of opportunities for improvement. Copyright, American Society for Engineering Management, 2012.