Bedford VA to Host Baldrige Site Visit

Christine Croteau, Director of Edith Nourse Rogers Memorial Veterans Hospital, (Bedford VA), is pleased to announce the news of an upcoming site visit from the Baldrige Performance Excellence Program. Of a total of 16 Health Care applications submitted this year from across the country requesting a site visit, only eight applications scored high enough to be eligible. VA New England was one of the eight and will host the site visit from Sunday Sept. 27 through Saturday Oct. 3, 2015. Bedford VA will be visited on September 29, 2015.

The Baldrige Performance Excellence Program was established by Congress in 1987 to help organizations improve their performance and promote America’s productivity and competitiveness around the world. They also established an award program to recognize role-model organizations. It is the only award program, dedicated to improving U.S. organizations, that is given by the President of the United States.

In addition to the national program, there are state and local quality recognition programs based on the Baldrige Criteria such as Partners in Performance Excellence (PiPEx), the Massachusetts/New York and Connecticut states’ program and the Secretary of Veterans Affairs Robert W. Carey Program.

Baldrige Framework and Criteria are part of the VA New England Performance Improvement System. Using the Criteria questions, we can identify strengths and opportunities for improvement in order to become a more effective, competitive and sustainable organization, serving Veterans with excellence.

During the Baldrige site visit, a team of experts will visit to assess our performance as a system - - it is not a pass or fail event. Being selected to receive a national site visit means that VA New England has potential role model performance in certain areas, and the site visit team wishes to learn more about them. A site visit is an opportunity to share all the outstanding work we do – our improvements and innovations.

At Bedford VA, our dedicated staff, along with our volunteers and community partners, contribute every day to the delivery of exceptional health care and services to our Veterans. We welcome this opportunity to find new ways to serve Veterans better than they have ever been served. To learn more about Bedford VA, visit www.bedford.va.gov/guide.

Robert Cook, Public Affairs Officer, Edith Nourse Rogers Memorial Veterans Hospital (Bedford VA)

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