President Bush and Commerce Secretary Carlos M. Gutierrez announced Nov. 21 that San Diego-based Premier Inc. is one of three companies to win the 2006 Malcolm Baldrige National Quality Award, the nation’s highest presidential honor for organizational performance.
Premier, a company that offers consulting and services, and its two co-awardees , Tulsa, Okla.-based Mesa Products Inc. and Tupelo, Miss.-based North Mississippi Medical Center , were chosen out of 76 applicants for the award.
Premier provides a variety of services, including purchasing, insurance and informatics, for its 200 owners in the nonprofit hospital and health care sector. Premier has 932 employees and reported revenues of $500 million in its most recent fiscal year.
The three companies were chosen for the Baldrige Award based on an evaluation conducted in seven areas: leadership; strategic planning; customer and market focus; measurement, analysis and knowledge management; human resource focus; process management; and results. An independent board of examiners conducted the evaluation in a span of 1,000 hours of review and on-site visits.
Congress established the Baldrige Award in 1987 to enhance competitiveness and performance of U.S. businesses.
, Andy Killion