September 5, 2016
Anchorage, Alaska, — Mountain-Pacific Quality Health is proud to announce the winners of the 2016 Nursing Home Quality Awards. Six Alaska long-term care facilities met the quality goals set for these awards and will receive their awards during the Alaska State Hospital and Nursing Home Association (ASHNHA) Annual Conference in Soldotna on September 1, 2016.
The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) supports the National Nursing Home Quality Care Collaborative (NNHQCC) through the Quality Improvement Organization (QIO) program. Alaska’s QIO is Mountain-Pacific. The NNHQCC’s goals are to instill quality and performance improvement practices, eliminate healthcare-acquired conditions and improve resident satisfaction. As a measure to reflect achievement of these goals, CMS created a “composite score” system. The composite score is a way to assess quality of care in long-term care facilities and is based on 13 publicly reported quality measures—the lower the score, the better.
The awards are based on each facility’s composite score, their licensure with Alaska’s state survey agency and their certification with CMS. Winners of the Quality Excellence award have reached the composite score of less than 7 at least seven times during the calendar year. Those nursing centers that have achieved the composite score of less than 7 between one and seven times during 2015 will receive a Recognition of Quality award. Finally, a new award has been added in 2015 to recognize the nursing home that has made the most overall improvement in their facility composite score.
“These long-term care facilities have shown a dedication to residents and their families by delivering high-quality care,” said Sharon Scudder, Mountain-Pacific’s state director for Alaska. “We are proud to present these awards and will continue to partner with Alaska’s long-term care facilities to help make sure every resident receives the safest, highest quality of care possible.”
Recognition of Quality Excellence:
- Heritage Place, Soldotna
Recognition of Quality Achievement:
- Denali Center, Fairbanks
- PeaceHealth Ketchikan Medical Center, Ketchikan
- Quyanna Care Center, Nome
- Yukon Kuskokwim Elders Home, Bethel
Most Improved Award:
- South Peninsula Hospital Long Term Care, Homer
All 18 of Alaska long-term care facilities are eligible for the Nursing Home Quality Awards.
About Mountain-Pacific—Mountain-Pacific is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit corporation and holds federal and state contracts that allow them to oversee the quality of care for Medicare and Medicaid members. Mountain-Pacific works within its four-state region (Montana, Wyoming, Alaska and Hawaii, which includes the U.S. Pacific Territories of Guam and American Samoa and the Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands) to help improve the delivery of health care and the systems that provide it. Mountain-Pacific’s goal is to increase access to high-quality health care that is affordable, safe and of value to the patients they serve.
www.mpqhf.org