OKLAHOMA HOME HEALTH AGENCIES RECOGNIZED FOR IMPROVING CARE FOR MEDICARE BENEFICIARIES

(OKLAHOMA CITY) – The Oklahoma Foundation for Medical Quality (OFMQ), the Medicare Quality Improvement Organization for Oklahoma, presented Quality Awards to 30 home health agencies from across Oklahoma during a ceremony held February 28, 2008 in Oklahoma City.

Awards were based on goals of the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) Home Health Quality Initiative, which established reducing the number of preventable acute care hospitalizations among home care patients as a national priority in 2005. OFMQ worked with home care agencies throughout Oklahoma to keep patients out of the hospital, and to improve the quality of health care services for clinical areas including pain, wound care, use of oral medications and shortness of breath. Quality measures are reported to the public for use in evaluating home health care services on www.medicare.gov/Hhcompare/. 

Home care agencies that achieved a 50 percent or more reduction in the number of acute care hospitalizations were honored with the ACH Quality Improvement Award. Recipients of this award were:  

·          Heartland Home Health Care & Hospice, Shawnee

·          Loving Care In-Home Health Services, Noble

·          MHTC Home Care, Guymon

·          Park View Hospital Home Health, El Reno 

The Quality Achievement Award was presented to home care agencies that reduced hospitalizations by at least a 30 percent and that also reached their improvement goal in one of the other clinical areas. Recipients of the Quality Achievement Awards were:

·          Elkview Home Health, Hobart

·          Girling Health Care, Tulsa

·          Hillcrest Regional Home Health, Cushing

·          Mays Housecall Home Health, Ada

·          S-Q Specialties, Broken Arrow

·          Sunshine Home Care, Altus 

Mays Housecall: Ada Award

Home care agencies that achieved at least a 50 percent or more reduction in the number of hospitalizations and that also reached their improvement goal in another clinical area received the Quality Excellence Award.  Recipients of the Quality Excellence Award were: 

·          Amedisys Home Health, Oklahoma City

·          Craig General Home Health, Vinita

·          Elite Home Care, Oklahoma City

·          Emberton & Company Home Health, Muldrow

·          Fairview Home Health

·          Guymon Home Health & Hospice

·          INTEGRIS Bass Home Health Care, Enid

·          INTEGRIS Blackwell Regional Hospital Home Health

·          Logan Medical Center Home Health, Guthrie

·          Mays Housecall Home Health, Tulsa

·          McAlester Regional Hospital Home Health

·          Nurses Home Care, Ardmore

·          OMH Home Health, Okmulgee

·          Providence Home Care, Oklahoma City

·          SSM Home Care of Oklahoma, Oklahoma City

·          St. John Medical Center Home Health Care, Tulsa

·          The Caring Connection, Inc., Wewoka

·          Victory Home Health & Hospice, Elgin

Mays Housecall: Tulsa Award

Quality Excellence Awards were also presented to home care agencies that, in addition to achieving significant improvement in a second clinical measure, maintained an ACH rate below 23% (the national benchmark as determined by CMS) every month from January 2005 through August 2007. Recipients meeting these criteria were: 

·          At Home Medical of Ponca City

·          Mercy At Home, Oklahoma City

###

About Oklahoma Foundation for Medical Quality
Oklahoma Foundation for Medical Quality (OFMQ) is a nonprofit healthcare quality improvement organization (QIO) dedicated to improving health care for all Oklahomans, including the state’s more than half-a-million Medicare beneficiaries. For over 30 years, OFMQ has led efforts to improve societal health and to encourage the cost-effective provision of quality medical services through healthcare review, quality improvement projects and public education.  Working in partnership with Oklahoma’s physician offices, hospitals, home health agencies, and nursing homes, OFMQ provides expert consulting resources for clinical and organizational quality improvement.  OFMQ holds a contract with the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS), an agency of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services.  1B-607-OK-0308