Tool: The Communities of Excellence Framework and its criteria for Community Performance Excellence
Problem: Non-profit hospitals are required to complete CHNAs and work collaboratively with communities to improve health for IRS 990 requirements. Communities of Excellence Criteria supports the integration of population health strategies into quality work of hospitals and health systems, applies a holistic approach to improvement and requires collaboration with key stakeholders.
Tool Selection: The Criteria requires results in the following areas: Community and Process Results, Customer-Focused Results, People-Resource Results, Leadership/Governance Results and Financial/Strategy Results. The COE Framework is adapted from the Baldrige Excellence Framework to address population health disparities across sectors in communities. Baldrige is considered the gold standard for organizational excellence.
Usage: Each community addresses the following question: “What are the key elements of the performance improvement system used by your community excellence group, including its processes for evaluating and improving key projects and processes?” Lean/Six Sigma training is provided for communities participating in COE 2026.
Results: Working with 22 communities, we help them envision their community as a set of systems that must function together for optimal performance. We will sustain our results through the addition of “community” as a new sector for the Baldrige National Quality Program. The legislation for this is currently before Congress.
