Two Shands Live Oak employees traveled with dozens of their Shands HealthCare colleagues to Orlando recently to accept the prestigious Governor’s Sterling Award for 2008. In April, Governor Charlie Crist, Lt. Gov. Jeff Kottkamp and the council announced that Shands and four other organizations had been selected to receive the state’s top honor for performance excellence. Shands Live Oak Hospital Administrator Russell Test and Director of Patient Care Services Alicia Layne attended the Florida Sterling Council’s annual banquet to represent the hospital’s role in winning the prestigious award.

“I am honored to recognize this year’s Sterling Award recipients,” said Crist. “This year’s winners have demonstrated their commitment to improving the way they do business. The process of competing for the award alone pushes for results.”

Shands is the largest organization ever to receive the Sterling Award since its introduction in 1993. Few healthcare systems have been recognized this way for quality, outcomes and organizational excellence. In March, 11 Sterling examiners met more than 500 Shands employees in interviews, focus groups and spontaneous conversations at Shands Live Oak and Shands’ seven other hospitals in Gainesville, Jacksonville, Lake City and Starke. The Sterling team evaluated Shands in seven key areas: leadership, strategic planning, customer and market focus, measurement, analysis and knowledge management, workforce focus, process management and results.

Shands showed strong results across all facilities for 80 percent of reported data, consistently performing in the top 25 percent in key healthcare industry measures, with some approaching the top 10 percent, or benchmark levels.

“The examiners were very impressed by our passion for patient care and the work we do every day,” said Jodi Mansfield, Shands HealthCare executive vice president and chief operating officer. “They concluded that many of our systems are role-model best practices in the healthcare industry. They also provided us with suggested improvements that are reasonable, and we will be taking action to improve these processes.”

Bette Brotherton, vice president for Clinical Improvement, and her team helped complete Shands’ application for the award and prepare the healthcare system for the assessment.

“It’s a huge honor to receive such a prestigious award,” Brotherton said. “The process has been a great experience for Shands and it confirms that we are a role model for performance excellence.”

“This was such a team effort, with staff from all Shands facilities connecting to showcase the quality care and service we provide. I’m honored to be part of such a committed and outstanding group of people working at Shands,” she said.

For 16 years, the Governor’s Sterling Award has recognized organizations and businesses in Florida that have successfully achieved performance superiority within their management and operations. The award is based on the National Malcolm Baldrige Criteria for Performance Excellence. Other 2008 Sterling Award winners include the Hillsborough County Tax Collector, Marion County Sheriff’s Office, Orange County Clerk of Courts and The Ritz-Carlton (Sarasota).