Press Releases: Southern California
May 4, 2012
California Council for Excellence Awards Kaiser Permanente Riverside the Eureka Silver Award
PASADENA, Calif. — On May 2, the California Council for Excellence recognized the 2011 recipients of the California Awards for Performance Excellence at its annual conference in Anaheim, Calif. Kaiser Permanente Riverside Medical Center area was awarded the Eureka Silver Award. The Eureka Award is the top-tier award for CAPE, and only nine other health care organizations have received a Eureka Silver Award since 1992.
“This achievement is a testament to the excellent performance of the Kaiser Permanente Riverside Medical Center Area,” said Vita Willett, executive director, Kaiser Foundation Hospitals/Health Plan. “Hospitals who earn the CAPE and Baldridge Awards have demonstrated that they provide top quality care.”
The CAPE award program, which emulates the national Baldrige Performance Excellence Program, recognizes organizations that demonstrate superior performance in seven key business areas: leadership, strategic planning, customer focus, measurement and knowledge management, human resources, process management and organizational results.
“The CAPE program guides California organizations in maintaining competitiveness by promoting continuous improvement,” said Jill Duplechan, RN, MAOL, medical group administrator. “Hospitals who focus on the CAPE and Baldridge strategies, processes and initiatives provide some of the best care in the nation.”
Award applicants are evaluated through a 50-page application and a weeklong site visit.
“This award is a recognition of Kaiser Permanente Riverside’s commitment to excellence in the provision of health care,” said Richard G. Rajaratnam, MD, FACS, FRCS, area medical group administrator. “I am proud to work with a team of dedicated physicians and staff who have the patient at the center of their focus and are continually innovating new strategies to elevate the care they provide to the next level.”
Kaiser Permanente opened its medical center in Riverside in 1989 and its hospital in Moreno Valley in 2008, and currently provides care for over 320,000 members throughout the county. Over 400 physicians care for our members at nine medical facilities and at Kaiser Permanente’s Riverside Medical Center and Moreno Valley Community Hospital. The Riverside Medical Center has 215 licensed beds. The Moreno Valley Community Hospital has 101 licensed beds.
About Kaiser Permanente Southern California
aiser Permanente is committed to helping shape the future of health care. We are recognized as one of America’s leading health care providers and not-for-profit health plans. Founded in 1945, our mission is to provide high quality, affordable health care services to improve the health of our members and the communities we serve. We currently serve 3.5 million members in Southern California. Care for members and patients is focused on their total health and guided by their personal physicians, specialists and team of caregivers. Our expert and caring medical teams are empowered and supported by industry-leading technology advances and tools for health promotion, disease prevention, state-of-the-art care delivery and world-class chronic disease management. Kaiser Permanente is dedicated to care innovations, clinical research, health education and the support of community health. For more information, go to: www.kp.org/newscenter
