Contact:
Patricia Simino Boyce
(516) 209-5294
psboyce@ipro.org
Dennis Tartaglia/Kelly Peterson
(212) 481-7000
In Conferring Award, Empire State Advantage Cites IPRO’s Growth and Customer, Employee Satisfaction
LAKE SUCCESS, N.Y., February 6, 2007 – IPRO, a New York-based leader in health care quality improvement and evaluation, has joined a small number of organizations in the state being recognized this year with Empire State Advantage’s Empire State Silver Certification. The certification was given after a thorough review of IPRO’s management systems, work processes, employee satisfaction and results for customers. Empire State Advantage, Inc. (ESA) is a public/private partnership formed to help build economic competitiveness and improve the quality of life within New York State.
“We understand that ESA’s evaluation of IPRO was based on a stringent set of standards, and we are honored to receive this designation,” said Theodore O. Will, Chief Executive Officer, IPRO. “We believe this makes us a ‘role model’ for future winners to learn from and emulate. Moving forward, we look forward to mentoring others on this process.”
The ESA “Excellence at Work” program is the only training, mentoring and award program in the state that is based on the Malcolm Baldrige National Quality Award criteria. The statewide recognition awards are based on an onsite review and judging process. Participants compete against the standards defined in the ESA “Framework for Excellence” and not against other organizations.
“It is very satisfying that IPRO has been chosen to receive this honor,” said Tierre A. Jeanne-Porter, J.D., C.P.H.Q., Vice President, Planning & Quality, IPRO. “We are aware that ESA is very selective in giving out this certification and are proud to have earned it.” Jeanne-Porter worked closely with the ESA review team as they performed onsite evaluations at IPRO.
Among recent Silver Certificate recipients are Strong Memorial Hospital, Arc of Monroe County and Nationwide Credit, Inc.
The Empire State Silver certification is awarded to organizations that have effective management systems and work processes, are achieving good results, and have developed methods to significantly improve over time. These improvements are paying off, and many of the most important performance result areas, such as customer service, employee effectiveness, operational efficiency, and financial results, are showing favorable trends.
“Our review team was very impressed by both the people and the operations at IPRO,” said George Hansen, Executive Director, Empire State Advantage. “The goal of Empire State Advantage is to help New York State based organizations to achieve excellence so that they can increase their contributions to both the quality of life and the business competitiveness in their communities. And we’re happy to see that IPRO is making a significant contribution toward reaching this goal.”
Hansen went on to enumerate his team’s findings on IPRO: “They aim to be a national leader in assessing and improving health care services, and they are well along the way to achieving that vision. They work closely with their customers to define and improve the services that they deliver, and they are registered to the ISO-9001 Quality System Standard. IPRO has a very positive work environment with effective employee communications, training, and rewards and recognition, and they enjoy employee turnover rates well below those typical for their industry. IPRO leaders monitor performance regularly using a ‘balanced scorecard’ approach. All of this has helped IPRO to improve customer satisfaction, employee satisfaction, and revenue growth over recent years.”
With more than 20 years of experience in health care quality improvement and evaluation, IPRO holds major contracts with state and federal governments to review the cost and quality of services provided to Medicaid recipients, Medicare beneficiaries, and patients enrolled in managed care organizations, and to work with the health care community to improve those services. Based in Lake Success, New York, IPRO also holds contracts with private-sector clients to improve the quality of privately financed services and serves as the state’s Medicare End Stage Renal Disease Network quality improvement coordinator.
For more information on Empire State Advantage, please visit www.empirestateadvantage.org.