Denver, CO -- (ReleaseWire) -- 12/21/2016 --Rocky Mountain Performance Excellence (RMPEx), a 501C(3) organization serving as the regional organization for the Malcolm Baldrige Performance Excellence Program, has named three organizations as 2016 recipients of performance excellence awards One organization was recognized at the Peak level, the highest level award for RMPEx. Two organization was recognized at the Timberline level for mature processes for the overall performance excellence requirements.

The 2016 RMPEx Award recipients are:

Peak Level

Denver Health (http://www.denverhealth.org/), Denver, Colorado, an academic, community-based health care system that serves as Colorado's primary safety net organization. This is the second time Denver Health has been recognized with an RMPEx Peak Award.

Timberline Level

El Paso County School District 49 (http://d49.org/), Peyton, Colorado, which serves the eastern part of Colorado Springs and the unincorporated portion of El Paso County known as Falcon.

Fire & Police Pension Association of Colorado (FPPA) (http://www.fppaco.org/), Greenwood Village, Colorado, which administers a statewide retirement system as well as death and disability coverage for police officers and paid firefighters throughout the State of Colorado.

This year's RMPEx Award honorees have applied the Baldrige Framework for Excellence to identify areas of strength and opportunities for improvement. The Peak recipients have demonstrated improvements that now make them eligible to apply for national recognition through the national Baldrige program. The Foothills recipient has demonstrated successful initiation of performance improvement processes.

Prior to this year, eight organizations had received Peak-level recognition from RMPEx. Three RMPEx applicants have also received the national award: Monfort College of Business, University of Northern Colorado, Greeley, Colorado; Poudre Valley Health System, Fort Collins, Colorado (now a part of the University of Colorado Health System); and Elevations Credit Union, Boulder, Colorado. Operations Management International, Inc., Englewood, Colorado (now a part of CH2M Hill), was the first Colorado national recipient and was a founding sponsor of RMPEx.

Accomplishments like the following may lead to the 2016 RMPEx recipients being added to the list of RMPEx applicants who are recognized at the national level:

Denver Health Denver Health utilizes Lean tools in numerous ways to design and improve work and support processes as well as to improve the quality of its healthcare services. It demonstrates strong financial performance over time and favorable trends for total market share in primary and secondary service areas.

District 49's values to innovate and be creative are supported by a systematic approach for stimulating innovation and determining intelligent risks. They employ systematic processes to collect and use data to drive performance, to listen to customers and to support their workforce.

FPPA exhibits a strong customer-focus throughout the organization, demonstrates a number of well-defined and effective work processes, and maintains a strong focus on leadership and governance.

The 2016 RMPEx Awards will be presented at a Quest for Excellence conference to be held April 14. 2017, at the Auraria Campus in Denver. Check the RMPEx website for registration details in January.

About RMPEx
Incorporated in 2000 as a 501(c) (3) non-profit corporation, Rocky Mountain Performance Excellence (RMPEx) helps organizations improve performance and achieve results. RMPEx is funded solely by contributions and operational revenues and is one of over 30 similar Baldrige state programs that exist throughout the U.S. The approaches used by RMPEx are based on the Baldrige Framework for Excellence, a proven best-practice program that evaluates organizations in seven areas: leadership; strategy; customers; measurement, analysis and knowledge management; workforce; operations; and results.