Statement by HHS Secretary Tommy G. Thompson on the Awarding of the Malcolm Baldrige Quality Award

I congratulate SSM Health Care for the extraordinary work that led to its receipt of the 2002 Malcolm Baldrige Quality Award. The award is an outstanding honor given to those demonstrating true excellence in health care. President Bush and I deeply appreciate SSM Health Care's work and mission.

SSM, based in St. Louis, is a not-for-profit health system that provides primary and secondary care services. The lives saved and innovative care given by SSM Health Care over the last 130 years truly puts it in the front ranks of what the President calls "the armies of compassion."

In particular, SSM Health Care's work with patient feedback and physician communications make it an outstanding example of what can be done when fresh thinking and modern science are brought to the delivery of health care in America. With its groundbreaking automated system that makes clinical information available to any of its physicians wherever they may be, SSM Health Care has shown that it is truly dedicated to bringing the technological revolution to health care. That's not just good for patients - it's good for our communities, and it's good for the health care industry at large.

Again, let me congratulate SSM Health Care on this well-deserved award. I know I join the President and Secretary Evans in expecting even more great things from them in the years to come.

Information on the winners of the Baldrige Award can be found at http://www.nist.gov/public_affairs/releases/baldrige2002.htm.

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