TUSCALOOSA, Ala. – The top-level 2003 Alabama Quality Award has been awarded to Birmingham-based UAB Hospital and Quality Educational Systems Inc.

The Alabama Productivity Center, located on The University of Alabama campus, administers the award, which is modeled after the Malcolm Baldrige National Quality Award. The Alabama Quality Award recognizes and honors organizations that use effective productivity and quality improvement strategies, techniques or practices which can be shared with other organizations to help contribute to the overall economic well-being in the state of Alabama.

The award is based upon performance criteria that include the following: excellence in leadership; strategic planning; attention to customers and other stakeholders; market focus; process management and analysis of organizational performance. Companies use the criteria as a self assessment tool to determine at which level of the AQA they should apply.

The levels of recognition are (from highest commitment down) Level 3 - Alabama Excellence Award, Level 2- Progress Toward Excellence, and Level 1- Commitment to Excellence. UAB Hospital received the Level 3 Health Care Award and Quality Educational Systems Inc. received the Level 3 Small Business Award.

The awards, and others detailed below, will be presented at the Alabama Quality Award Conference and Ceremony on Nov. 4-5 at the Bryant Conference Center on UA’s campus.

UAB Hospital is a non-profit organization that provides patient care to the citizens of Alabama and beyond. UAB is the primary clinical support unit for the University’s six health profession schools, the University of Alabama at Birmingham, and the School of Medicine.

Quality Educational System Inc. provides comprehensive, whole school reform products and services within a technology framework. QES’ basic product is Quest- Quality, Educational Systems-Tools for Technology, which is an assessment, planning, and implementation initiative that has consistently enabled schools to improve educational performance in rural, suburban, and urban settings.

The Level 2 award winners are Regions Corporate Loan Operations and Central Alabama Veterans Health Care System, both located in Montgomery. Regions offers a multitude of services to both internal and external customers, including loan processing, loan documentation, storage of said documentation, and loan system support. CAVHCS provides personalized, patient-oriented services to veterans from central and south Alabama to western Georgia.

Level 1 award winners are two Huntsville based organizations, Morgan Research Corporation and Huntsville Hospital. Morgan is a woman-owned small business that provides systems engineering, technical, and programmatic solutions to defense, civilian, space and related technologies. Huntsville Hospital is a major referral center and teaching institution that offers a comprehensive range of services.

In addition to the three levels of recognition, the Alabama Productivity Center administers the Award of Excellence for Continuous Productivity and Quality Improvement, which was awarded to Mizell Memorial Hospital, located in Opp. Mizell is an acute care tertiary facility with more than 200 employees, located in rural South Alabama.

Also included in the Alabama Quality Award is the Team Showcase Awards, which recognize teams for their performance and efforts to educate other organizations throughout the state on the potential benefits of empowered teams.

Gold Level Winners of the team showcase are Mizell Memorial Hospital’s Customer Satisfaction Team; East Alabama Medical Center’s Cardiac Surgery Glucose Control Team and UAB Hospital for their work with reducing nosocomial infections in a neonatal intensive care unit and for their bedside testing quality initiative.

The winners of the Silver Level award are Crestwood Medical Center’s Patient Safety Team; U.S. Army Space and Missile Defense Battle Lab’s Studies and Analysis Division; Thomas Hospital’s Pain Quenchers PI Team; U.S. Army Space and Missile Defense Battle Lab’s Performance Feedback Integrated Product Team; and Shelton State Community College’s Quality Month Team.

The Bronze Level winners are The University of Alabama’s Student Financial Aid Federal Work Study Web Production Team; Huntsville Hospital’s Department of Pharmacy Quality Team; State of Alabama Department of Education’s Alabama Preparing Tomorrow’s Teachers to Use Technology Team; Missile Defense Targets Joint Project Office and their Consolidated Missile Asset Reuse for Targets; Crestwood Medical Center’s Customer Service/Patient Satisfaction Team; and BE&K Industrial Services’ Team at Honda Manufacturing of Alabama.

In addition to the awards’ presentations, winners of the Alabama Quality Award will share their “best practices” and Team Showcase winners will present their innovative and creative approaches to the continuous quality improvement process during the November ceremony.

For details or information, contact Linda Vincent at the Alabama Productivity Center, 205/348-8994.

The Alabama Productivity Center, a nonprofit organization, was established in 1986 by The University of Alabama and Alabama Power Company. The Center’s purpose is to find ways to use University research and educational resources to stimulate economic development within the state.