Malcolm Baldrige National Quality Award
2007 Award Recipient, Healthcare

Mercy Health System (MHS)

Type of Work: Mercy Health System (MHS) is a vertically integrated health system that provides services to residents in southern Wisconsin and northeastern Illinois. Hospital-based services (50 percent) include three hospitals; clinic-based services (34 percent) include 285 employed physicians at 38 community clinics in six counties; post-acute care/retail services (4 percent) include subacute care services, long-term care services, home health services, a community-based residential facility with hospice beds, a “health mall” and six retail pharmacies; and an insurance company. Insurance products (12 percent) include an HMO (Health Maintenance Organization), POS (Point-of-Service) products, Medicaid HMO, and Medicare supplement plans.

Web site: http://www.mercyhealthsystem.org

Revenues: $500 million - $1 billion

Workforce: 3,716 (referred to as partners)

Location: 64 sites in 22 cities

In Wisconsin: Janesville, Beloit, Brodhead, Delavan, Edgerton, Evansville, Lake Geneva, Milton, Sharon, and Whitewater

In Illinois: Harvard, Algonquin, Barrington, Cary, Crystal Lake, Fox River Grove, Lake in the Hills, McHenry, Niles, Richmond, Vernon Hills and Woodstock

Highlights

• MHS leads its Wisconsin market in inpatient services, outpatient surgery and employed physicians.

• Current overall mortality rates for MHS match the best practice benchmark based on the Care Science (a provider of care management, clinical analysis and clinical quality improvement solutions) adjusted rate for the top 15 percent of hospitals in the United States. Results for community acquired pneumonia mortality have decreased steadily since 2003, with current results at 1.2 percent—significantly below the benchmark of 4.0 percent.

• In 2006, workforce satisfaction results demonstrate the commitment of MHS to being a best place to work. MHS received the 2006 American Association of Retired Persons (AARP) “Best Employers for Workers Over Age 50” award and was named one of the “100 Best Companies in Which to Work” by Working Mother magazine. In addition, in 2007, MHS was named one of the “100 Best Adoption-Friendly Workplaces.”

• MHS supports its key communities through its involvement and participation in community initiatives and collaborations. MHS provides approximately 1.8 percent of its hospitals’ revenue and more than 2 percent of its clinics’ revenue to charity care. These results exceed the state General Medical Surgical Hospital and Hospital Best Practice Results. Additionally, MHS budgets just under $500,000 monthly for self pay discounts in support of patients unable to afford their needed health care. Other key MHS community support services include a homeless center (House of Mercy), a community clinic for the under-insured, and over 38,000 yearly screenings and community education programs.

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