Healthcare professionals seem to have an insatiable appetite for two very different forms of analytics: data and case-study. The former is squarely rooted in statistics and, the other on interpretation and anecdote. Both can be equally powerful tools for understanding and motivation as hospital executives and clinical professionals work to improve quality on behalf of our patients. Even more, healthcare leaders are looking for external verification and recognition for the quality and impact of their efforts.

McKesson and the American Hospital Association have worked together on a variety of recognition programs. McKesson and the AHA jointly developed the Quest for Quality Prize eight years ago. Hospitals & Health Networks, the journal of the AHA, developed the 100 Most Wired Awards 11 years ago. Shortly after, McKesson signed on as a major sponsor and partner in the development of the project. And when McKesson Provider Technologies launched the VIP Award, I was asked to be one of the initial judges and have been a judge every year since its inception, except one.

Here are brief descriptions of each program:

      Quest for Quality Prize — This coveted award focuses on hospital
        efforts to achieve the Institute of Medicine's quality and safety
        imperatives, naming one national winner each year, along with
        finalists and citation of merit recipients.

      Most Wired Survey and Benchmarking Study — Based on a
        detailed survey and scoring process, this annual data-driven study
        examines the use of information technology to achieve five key
        strategic goals — quality, customer service, public health and
        safety, business processes and workforce issues. The results are
        used to name the 100 Most Wired, the 25 Most Wireless, the 25
        Most Improved and the 25 Most Wired — Small and Rural.

      VIP Award — This program annually recognizes customers that best
        demonstrate overall vision and innovation in the use of McKesson
        technologies to improve healthcare performance. Each year, winners
        are selected by industry experts for demonstrating significant
        results in the following areas: improving patient and medication
        safety, physician IT adoption, resource management, digitizing
        the healthcare environment, and validating the return on
        investment in information technology.

These awards have their differences, such as the relative emphasis on statistical analysis versus descriptive narrative, the reliance on formalized scoring versus interpretive judging and the use of site visits to confirm entries. More importantly, they have a lot in common. In particular, they share the goal of identifying excellence, providing national recognition and building tools to share with other organizations — data from Most Wired, and case studies from Quest for Quality and the VIP Award.

Awards serve an important role in healthcare. They inspire, they inform and they educate. They create the opportunity for peer-to-peer exchange of ideas and insights, of lessons learned and critical mistakes to avoid.

They also give leaders and staff members, executives and clinicians, and managers and front-line staff, reasons to celebrate and stories to tell. If your organization is making strides in patient safety and care quality, get your staff the recognition they deserve by applying for awards that recognize their accomplishments. In the age of "never events" and quality improvement, we all need cause to rejoice.

Alden Solovy is Executive Editor of Hospitals & Health Networks and Associate Publisher for the Journals of the American Hospital Association. He is also a widely published author and a frequent speaker on the evolution of the healthcare economy and the nation's Most Wired health systems. Since 1999, the Most Wired Survey and Benchmarking Study has measured the nation's hospitals on their use of information technology for quality, customer service, public health and safety, business processes and workforce issues.

	The 2009 AHA-McKesson Quest for Quality Prize winners were recently announced. This highly coveted award recognizes organizations that exemplify hospitals' pursuit of excellence and commitment to achieving all six of the Institute of Medicine's quality aims: safety, patient-.centeredness, effectiveness, efficiency, timeliness and equity. This year's honorees include:   Bronson Methodist Hospital, Kalamazoo, Mich., won first     place and $75,000 for its emphasis on a shared vision     and plan for excellence. According to Chief Executive     Officer Frank Sardone, Bronson's non-stop drive to     excellence centers on making sure that employees     understand their role in achieving it.   Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center, Boston, was a     finalist for its commitment to transparency and     eliminating all preventable harm.   Duke University Hospital, Durham, N.C., earned a     Citation of Merit for its Safe Choices program, which     uses storytelling to share performance metrics, safety     events and near misses. Read about this year's Quest for Quality Prize winners on the AHA Web site.