The Malcolm Baldrige National Quality Award concept: could it help stimulate or accelerate health care quality improvement?

The United States has a major weapon in the battle to improve competitiveness: The Malcolm Baldrige National Quality Award Program. An increasingly asked question in industrial and health care sectors is whether there should be a Baldrige Award in health care. In the business community, the Baldrige Award has been a catalyst for cooperative development of quality criteria, assessment mechanisms, and continuous learning, greatly accelerating the pace of information sharing.