HAGERSTOWN – Meritus Health has been named a finalist for the Malcolm Baldrige National Quality Award, one of six nonprofit organizations nationwide to earn the distinction this year.
The award, created by Congress and named for former U.S. Secretary of Commerce Malcolm Baldrige, evaluates organizations on leadership, strategy, customer engagement, workforce development, operations and measurable results.
“It is the teamwork and dedication of our team members in caring for our patients that led to this most prestigious recognition,” said Maulik Joshi, president and CEO of Meritus Health. “Every day, our team lives our mission of improving the health of our community by providing expert care, close to home.”
The Baldrige program is administered by the National Institute of Standards and Technology. As part of the evaluation process, a team of examiners visited Meritus Medical Center and affiliated practices in September.
Being named a finalist places Meritus among a select group of organizations recognized for performance excellence and measurable outcomes.
Meritus also received a best-practices nomination for its Food Farmacy program, which provides “food as medicine” to patients whose health conditions are affected by socioeconomic factors.
In recent months, the health system ranked second among Maryland hospitals for surgical care by HealthGrades and received an “A” Hospital Safety Grade from The Leapfrog Group for the sixth consecutive time.
Meritus Health is the largest healthcare provider in Western Maryland, employing more than 4,000 people and serving more than 200,000 residents across Maryland, Pennsylvania and West Virginia.
