(COLORADO SPRINGS, COLO.) Brian Erling, MD, MBA, President & CEO of Penrose-St. Francis Health Services, recently completed the prestigious year-long Baldrige Performance Excellence Program, along with 18 other senior leaders of U.S. organizations across multiple sectors. Healthcare organizations whose administrators complete Baldrige’s fellowships and programs match or exceed their competitors’ measures of healthcare quality and outperform them in measures of favorable patient experience. As a Baldrige Executive Fellow, Dr. Erling explored all aspects of leadership through the lens of the Baldrige Excellence Framework, the world’s gold standard for performance excellence.
The Baldrige Program is the nation’s public-private partnership dedicated to performance excellence, raising awareness about its importance in driving the U.S. and global economies. At Centura Health, the region’s leading healthcare provider, we are always progressing and advancing to deliver the highest quality care possible, setting our own standard of care through a system of connected thought leaders who combine compassionate care with individualized treatment and strategies as unique as the patients and communities we serve.
The Baldrige Program educates organizations in performance excellence management, helping their executives and administrators achieve best-in-class levels of performance, identifying and recognizing role-models within the organizations and on a national level, as well as sharing best management practices, principles and strategies.
“Becoming a Baldrige Executive Fellow is perfectly aligned with the Mission and Values of Penrose-St. Francis and Centura Health, where we are driven and encouraged to find success by overflowing, stretching and expanding our own potential, creating opportunities for all caregivers to achieve together,” Dr. Erling said. “I am extremely proud to complete this fellowship and to be part of a vibrant group of mission-focused caregivers who work daily to bring our shared beliefs to life through meaningful, impactful action.”
Dr. Brian Erling serves as President & CEO of Penrose-St. Francis Health Services. As an accomplished and dynamic leader with experience in both clinical and operational roles, he provides outstanding strategic direction and leadership for the systems’ sustained success while giving emphasis to clinical excellence and the creation of optimal value. Dr. Erling most recently served as Senior Vice President and Chief Clinical Officer for Centura Health. A highly experienced emergency medicine specialist, Dr. Erling has long been a leader in quality improvement and was recently appointed as a Baldrige Executive Fellow.
During five interactive sessions at the sites of Baldrige Award recipient organizations and at the Baldrige Program’s Quest for Excellence® Conference, the executives explored how world-class organizations and their senior leaders achieve performance excellence and stimulate innovation. Dr. Erling and other Baldrige Fellows compared and contrasted leadership strategies from across sectors and they sought solutions and best practices that helped them emerge with a broader perspective on role-model leadership characteristics; strategic planning; workforce and customer support and engagement; innovation; integration of processes, plans, resources, and goals—all to achieve an organization’s desired results. In addition, between sessions, the Baldrige Fellows continued to work on their individual capstone projects, which addressed a strategic need within each of their organizations. During each session, they reported on progress and sought input and advice from Baldrige Award recipient leaders, Baldrige Executive Fellows faculty, and each other.
Since its inception in 2010, the Baldrige Executive Fellows Program has been nationally recognized with LEAD Awards as among the very best U.S. and global continuing-education programs in leadership development. The LEAD Awards, highlighted in Leadership Excellence Essentials magazine and presented by HR.com, recognize and honor corporations, educational institutions, and individuals that excel in offering top leadership initiatives and programs on a local to global scale. In 2018, the LEAD Awards ranked the federal Baldrige Performance Excellence Program’s training resources, including the Baldrige Executive Fellows Program, first and fourth, respectively, as the best continuing-education programs with emphases on human resources and leadership/organizational development. For more information on the Baldrige Executive Fellows, go to http://www.nist.gov/baldrige/fellows/index.cfm.
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ABOUT CENTURA HEALTH
Centura Health connects individuals, families and neighborhoods across Colorado, Utah and western Kansas with more than 6,000 physicians and 21,000 of the best hearts and minds in health care. Through our 17 hospitals, two senior living communities, neighborhood health centers, physician practices and clinics, home care and hospice services, and Flight For Life® Colorado, our caregivers make the region’s best health care accessible. We’re on a mission to build flourishing communities and whole person care. We’re Centura Health, and we’re your dedicated health partner for life. For information on Centura Health or any of the facilities in our network, please visit the Centura Health website.
ABOUT THE BALDRIGE FOUNDATION
The Baldrige Foundation, a 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization, supports the Baldrige Program and its offerings through fundraising and advocacy, working to ensure the long-term financial growth and viability of the Baldrige Program and to support organizational performance excellence in the United States and throughout the world. To learn more and support the Foundation’s efforts, visit http://baldrigefoundation.org/.
MEDIA CONTACT
Andrea Sinclair, Communications Advisor
Penrose-St. Francis Health Services – Centura Health
719.776.5050 office
719.761.9390 mobile
