2023 Performance Excellence Awards Feature an Unprecedented Three Platinum Award Winners

An enthusiastic crowd of over 220 descended on Locust Hill Country Club on October 11 for the 2023 GRQC Showcase and Performance Excellence Awards. The attendees expected to network with friends and colleagues, to learn from the projects and organizations highlighted in the exhibit hall, and to enjoy an informative and inspiring keynote address by Mike Della Porta of Butler/Tilll, and they were not disappointed. What they had not expected was to witness an unprecedented event: the awarding of not one, but three Platinum awards.
Click below to meet this year's finalists
Two applications from UR Medicine and a team from Gorbel won the George K. Hansen Platinum award, which indicates a level of exellence so extraordinary that it is normally awarded only every few years. When apprised of this news, George responded, "I am very happy to see that we have 18 award recipients this year. I am especially pleased and proud that three of you have achieved the Platinum level – an award that bears my name: the George K Hansen Award. We are making strong progress toward our vision: To see the Greater Rochester community as a nationally recognized showplace for performance excellence."
The GRQC Performance Excellence Award Program helps organizations in all sectors of the economy gain valuable insights into strategic areas of their operations, connect with like-minded leaders in high performing organizations, and earn formal recognition for achieving excellence through continuous improvement methodologies. A GRQC review team, including experienced Malcolm Baldrige examiners and past Empire State Advantage and Partners in Performance Excellence examiners, evaluates each application using a simplified version of the Malcolm Baldrige National Quality Award scoring guidelines. Performance Excellence Awards are presented in three categories: Team Excellence, Organizational Excellence, and Customer Experience.
The 2023 Customer Experience Award recipients are:
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Rochester Regional Health, Restoring Compassion, Bronze Award
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University of Rochester Medicine, Golisano Children’s Hospital and Daystar Kids, Gold Award
The 2023 Organization Excellence Award recipients are:
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SouthCo, Journey of Excellence, Silver Award
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Paychex, Enterprise Program Office, Gold Award
The 2023 Team Excellence Award recipients are:
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Finger Lakes Performing Provider System, Community Based Doula Program, Silver Award
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Forward Leading Independent Provider Association, Integrated Acute Contact Team, Silver Award
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Paychex, Communication Mining Tool, Silver Award
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Rochester Regional Health, MRI Department, Turnaround Time Reduction, Silver Award
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University of Rochester Medicine, Golisano Children’s Hospital, Pediatric Tracheostomy Action Plan, Silver Award
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Finger Lakes Performing Provider System, Transformational Community Care Coordination (TC3) Program, Gold Award
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Heritage Christian Services, Reimagining Community Habilitation Services, Gold Award
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Hillside, Improve Compliance with EMR Security Audit, Gold Award
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Hillside, Improvement of Program Scorecard Process, Gold Award
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University of Rochester Medicine, Interdisciplinary Approach to Administer Timely Antibiotics Preventing Complications of Sepsis, Gold Award
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University of Rochester Medicine, Thompson Health, Sleep Guideline Do-It Group, Gold Award
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Gorbel®, The Gorbel® Destuff-itTM Implementation Project, Platinum Award
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University of Rochester Medicine, Improving Lung Cancer Screening Utilization, Platinum Award
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University of Rochester Medicine, Post-operative Opioid Stewardship Management Project, Platinum Award
Congratulations to all of this year's award winners!
Click below to view photos from this exciting event.
Join us for upcoming events!
- Wed, Nov 29AI's implications for quality management in HR, Marketing, Healthcare delivery and more
Be a Part of GRQC's Mission - Volunteer!
Would you like to partner with GRQC to advance performance excellence in the community without making a long-term commitment? We have just the thing for you – volunteering to help one of our committees! GRQC has eight committees that help us achieve our strategic objectives. These committees are staffed by GRQC Board members and volunteers. We invite you to visit our new Volunteer Opportunity website page and reach out to any of the committee contacts to lean more or to express your interest. Volunteer opportunities are open to GRQC members and non-members alike. We’d love to have you join us!
Day of Quality Teams Share Stories and Celebrate Successes

GRQC is proud to spotlight the incredible efforts of four remarkable Day of Quality nonprofit agency beneficiaries: Hope Lodge, Just Cause, Villa of Hope, and Willow Domestic Violence Center. Thanks to GRQC's volunteer quality professional consultants, each organization spent a day with skilled quality facilitators focused on resolving pain points in real continuous process challenges that impact daily operations. Teams created process maps, analyzed current vs future desired state change, and exceeded 90 goals. Teams also shared stories about how resolving process challenges improved employee relationships and experiences while increasing their organizational impact on pervasive humanitarian challenges. Support these organizations' endless efforts to strive for excellence and continuous improvements by visiiting their websites to learn more about their work, attending an event, volunteering with their organizations, or getting involved iwth GRQC.
Click below to view photos and video from the 2023 Day of Quality Celebration Gallery.
View presentations and videos from recent
GRQC Performance Excellence Forums
Succession Planning - More Critical Than Ever
With employee turnover at record levels following the pandemic, having a robust succession plan is more critical to an organizations sustained success than ever. Tim Lippincott and Ryan Barrett share the principles, best practices, and metrics embedded in Enterprise Succession, the highly structured and successful succession plan developed and used at Excellus BCBS. You will hear two perspectives: that of an HR manager responsible for the design and execution of the program, and that of a business unit CFO who is a participant.
Click below to view/download the event presentation.
Click below to view the Zoom recording for this event.
A Deep Dive Into Three Lean Six Sigma Projects at Hillside
Any organization that uses repeatable processcs can spply Lean Six Sigma to become more efficient and productive. Non-profit organizations and service providers have learned that the efficiency and savings that Lean Six Sigma creates can help thm do more good and impact more peole with the resources at their disposal. Shannon Ryan shares her experience leading three LSS projects at Hillside. You will hear about the tools, processes and impact of htese projects.
Click below to view/download the event presentation.
Click below to view the Zoom recording for this event.
Learn About Partner Programs and Events
Upcoming Belt Programs at RIT - Fall 2023
Upcoming programs in 2023 include Green Belt Certification, blended-online starts Monday, September 18 and on-campus starts Tuesday, Septeber 19. Yellow Belt Certification - blended online starts Wednesday, October 4, and on-campus runs November 29 - December 1. Black Belt Certification, blended online starts Monday, October 2 .
Visit our website at www.rit.edu/cqas for more information about programs and rates, or contact us at cqas@rit.edu or 585-475-6990.

ASQ-Rochester Annual Conference
"ROC EXCELLENCE:
EXCELLENCE AND INNOVATION BEYOND QUALITY”
Wednesday, November 15, 2023, 7:00 am - 4:00 pm
RIT Convention Center, 5257 W Henrietta Rd, Henrietta, NY 14467
Keynote Speaker: Dr. Joseph A. DeFeo
This year’s conference, the second since 2019, will broaden the focus to the many ways excellence can drive continual quality improvements in the Greater Rochester region
Click here for details and registration. Deadline is November 1.

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Click the button below to go to the webpage Homegrown Tools in the GRQC Knowledge Center, and take advantage of the expertise of our members and friends.

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