LINCOLN, Neb., June 9, 2014 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Dr. Jennifer Volland of National Research Corporation has been appointed to the 2014 Board of Examiners for the Malcolm Baldrige National Quality Award. The award was established by the U.S. Congress in 1987 to raise awareness of quality management and recognize U.S. companies and organizations that have implemented successful quality management systems. Each year, the Baldrige Award may be given in each of six categories: manufacturing, service, small business, education, healthcare, and nonprofit.
Volland will be responsible for reviewing and evaluating applications submitted for the Baldrige Award.
The board of examiners is comprised of approximately 500 leading experts from industry, professional, and trade organizations, education and healthcare organizations, and nonprofits (including government). Those selected meet the highest standards of qualification and peer recognition. All members of the board must take a course based on the Baldrige Criteria for Performance Excellence and the scoring and evaluation processes for the award. The criteria that companies and organizations are judged upon include: leadership; strategic planning; customer focus; measurement, analysis, knowledge management; workforce focus; operations focus; and business/organizational performance results.
"Selection to the Board of Examiners is truly an honor. Organizations that apply for the Baldrige Award are among the best-of-the-best, having achieved the top-tier of quality at the state level. They have a deep commitment to excellence and an unwavering focus on results for both stakeholders and their communities. It's one of the greatest highlights of my career to help these organizations broaden their level of quality and in turn our national level of performance excellence," said Volland.
Dr. Volland has worked extensively with hospitals across the U.S., England, Ireland, and Canada to improve processes. While leading the healthcare practice at Juran Institute, she conducted the first national level Six Sigma deployment with the National Health Service (NHS) certifying individuals across multiple trusts achieving data-driven and sustainable results. She regularly publishes in clinical peer-review journals and serves as a peer-reviewer for multiple healthcare journals within the industry.
Additionally, Dr. Volland is Board Certified at the national level as an Advanced Nurse Executive (NEA-BC), a Fellow with Board Certification from the American College of Healthcare Executives (FACHE), and Certified Professional in Healthcare Quality (CPHQ). In 2012, she received an American College of Healthcare Executives (ACHE) Regent Award for service excellence to the healthcare profession. She is a third-year member of the ACHE Board of Governors Examination Committee and is a Content Expert Panelist for the American Nurses Credentialing Center.
Dr. Volland's role at National Research includes oversight of program development for the Patient Experience, Patient Outreach, Medical Group, and Payer programs and as faculty for The Governance Institute. She continues to work both within the U.S. and Canada through the development and hosting of the "Best Practices Webinar Series" that addresses relevant issues in healthcare to help organizations raise the bar on patient-centered care. Prior to National Research, she worked in hospital administration as Vice President of Nursing at Cancer Treatment Centers of America and Assistant Vice President of Operations at Valley Baptist Medical Center.
About National Research Corporation
For more than 30 years, National Research Corporation (NASDAQ: NRCIA and NRCIB) has been at the forefront of patient-centered care. Today, the company's focus on empowering customer-centric healthcare across the continuum extends patient-centered care to incorporate families, communities, employees, senior housing residents, and other stakeholders.
Recognized by Modern Healthcare as the largest patient satisfaction firm in the U.S., National Research is dedicated to representing the true voice of patients and other healthcare stakeholders. This integration of cross-continuum metrics and analytics uncovers insights for effective performance improvement, quality measurement, care transitions, and many other factors that impact population health management.
National Research is headquartered in Lincoln, Nebraska. For more information, call 800-388-4264, write to info@nationalresearch.com, or visit www.nationalresearch.com.
About Malcolm Baldrige National Quality Award
The award program is managed by the Baldrige Performance Excellence Program, part of NIST, in close cooperation with the private sector. ASQ assists the program, under contract, with logistics of the application review process, preparation of award documents, and other activities.
Information about the Baldrige Performance Excellence Program and the application process is available by calling (301) 975-2036, sending an e-mail to baldrige@nist.gov, or going to the Baldrige Program's Web site at http://www.nist.gov/baldrige.
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