P Preface: Organizational Profile

The Organizational Profile is a snapshot of your organization, the KEY influences on HOW you operate, and the KEY CHALLENGES you face.

Item P.1 - Organizational Description

What are your KEY organizational characteristics?

Describe your organization’s operating environment and your KEY relationships with PATIENTS and STAKEHOLDERS, suppliers, and PARTNERS.

Within your response, include answers to the following questions:

P.1a. Organizational Environment

(1)     What are your organization’s main HEALTH CARE SERVICE offerings?

What are the delivery mechanisms used to provide your HEALTH CARE SERVICE offerings to your PATIENTS and STAKEHOLDERS?

(2)     What are the KEY characteristics of your organizational culture?

What are your stated PURPOSE, VISION, VALUES, and MISSION?

What are your organization’s CORE COMPETENCIES and their relationship to your MISSION?

(3)    What is your WORKFORCE profile?

What are your WORKFORCE or staff groups and SEGMENTS?

What are their educational LEVELS?

What are the KEY factors that motivate them to engage in accomplishing your MISSION?

What are your organization’s WORKFORCE and job DIVERSITY, organized bargaining units, KEY benefits, and special health and safety requirements?

(4)     What are your major facilities, technologies, and equipment?

(5)     What is the legal and regulatory environment under which your organization operates?

What are the applicable occupational health and safety regulations; accreditation, certification, or registration requirements; relevant health care industry standards; and environmental, financial regulations relevant to HEALTH CARE SERVICE delivery?

 P.1b. Organizational Relationships

(1)     What are your organizational structure and GOVERNANCE SYSTEM?

What are the reporting relationships among your GOVERNANCE board, SENIOR LEADERS, and parent organization, as appropriate?

(2)     What are your KEY health care market SEGMENTS and PATIENT and STAKEHOLDER groups, as appropriate?

What are their KEY requirements and expectations for your HEALTH CARE SERVICE offerings, PATIENT and STAKEHOLDER support services, and operations?

What are the differences in these requirements and expectations among health care market SEGMENTS and PATIENT and STAKEHOLDER groups?

(3)     What are your KEY types of suppliers, PARTNERS, and COLLABORATORS?

What role do these suppliers, PARTNERS, and COLLABORATORS play in your WORK SYSTEMS and the production and delivery of your KEY HEALTH CARE SERVICE offerings and PATIENT and STAKEHOLDER support services?

What are your KEY mechanisms for communicating and managing relationships with suppliers, PARTNERS, and COLLABORATORS?

What role, if any, do these organizations play in your organizational INNOVATION PROCESSES?

What are your KEY supply chain requirements?

Notes:

N1. Mechanisms for HEALTH CARE SERVICE delivery to your PATIENTS and STAKEHOLDERS (P.1a[1]) might be direct or through contractors, COLLABORATORS, or PARTNERS.

N2. "CORE COMPETENCIES" (P.1a[2]) refers to your organization’s areas of greatest expertise. Your organization’s CORE COMPETENCIES are those strategically important capabilities that are central to fulfilling your MISSION or provide an ADVANTAGE in your marketplace or service environment. CORE COMPETENCIES frequently are challenging for competitors or suppliers and PARTNERS to imitate and provide a SUSTAINABLE  competitive advantage.

N3. Many health care organizations rely heavily on volunteers to accomplish their work. These organizations should include volunteers in the discussion of their WORKFORCE (P.1a[3]).

N4. WORKFORCE or staff groups and SEGMENTS (including organized bargaining units) (P.1a[3]) might be based on the type of employment or contract reporting relationship, location, tour of duty, work environment, family-friendly policies, or other factors.

N5. Examples of the legal and regulatory environment under which your organization operates (P.1a[5]) might include the regulations promulgated by the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS), such as the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act of 1996 (HIPAA) and the State Children’s Health Insurance Program (SCHIP). They also might include “industry-wide” standards, such as the standards of the Joint Commission.

N6. For some health care organizations, GOVERNANCE and reporting relationships (P.1b[1]) might include relationships with foundation funding sources.

N7. PATIENT and STAKEHOLDER groups (P.1b[2]) might be based on common expectations, behaviors, preferences, or profiles. Within a group there may be PATIENT and STAKEHOLDER SEGMENTs based on differences and commonalities within the group. Your markets might be subdivided into Market SEGMENTS based on HEALTH CARE SERVICES or features, HEALTH CARE SERVICE delivery modes, payors, business volume, geography, population demographics, the diversity of PATIENTS, or other factors that your organization uses to define related market characteristics.

N8. Requirements for PATIENT, STAKEHOLDER, and health care market segments (P.1b[2]) might include accessibility, continuity of care, safety, security, electronic communication, billing requirements, socially responsible behavior, community service, cultural preferences, and the staff’s ability to speak the same language.  STAKEHOLDER group requirements might include socially responsible behavior and community service.

N9. Communication mechanisms (P.1b[3]) should be two-way and in understandable language, and they might be in person, via e-mail, Web-based, or by telephone. For many organizations, these mechanisms may change as marketplace, PATIENT, or STAKEHOLDER requirements change.

For additional description of this Item, see P.1 Organizational Description.

Information for Understanding All Criteria Items

For definitions of Key Terms presented throughout the Health Care Criteria and Scoring Guidelines text in SMALL CAPS/SANS SERIF, see the Glossary of Key Terms.

Frequently, several questions are grouped under one number (e.g., P.1a[3]. These questions are related and do not require separate responses. These multiple questions serve as a guide in understanding the full meaning of the information being requested.

The Items in the Baldrige Health Care Criteria are divided into three groups: the Preface, which defines your organizational environment; Categories 1–6, which define your organization’s Processes; and Category 7, which contains your Results for your organization’s processes.

Item notes serve three purposes: (1) to clarify terms or requirements presented in an Item, (2) to give instructions on responding to the Item Requirements, and (3) to indicate KEY linkages to other Items. In all cases, the intent is to help you respond to the Item Requirements..