Fazzi Associates recognize quality of care
In November 2015, SALMON VNA & Hospice Executive Director Mark Surprenant was pleased to learn the VNA & Hospice had been named a national best practice agency by Fazzi Associates. This distinction was based on overall patient satisfaction results for the year 2014. Fazzi Associates stated, “Agencies named as national best practice agencies are proven leaders and have excelled in one of the most important measures of an agency’s quality program—patient satisfaction.”
Since 2010, Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) has required home health agencies to randomly survey its patients using a nationally standardized and publicly reported survey called the Home Health Consumer Assessment of Health Providers and Systems (HHCAHPS). According to the CMS website, “HHCAHPS is a 34-item questionnaire and data collection methodology to measure patients’ perceptions of their skilled home care. Questions cover topics such as: communication about care, pain, and prescription medication use, the care received from the home health agency, staying informed about scheduling, and global ratings.”
In order to ensure objectivity, CMS requires home health agencies to contract with third party organizations that survey the patients and tally the results. SALMON VNA & Hospice contracted with Fazzi Associates, one of the oldest, largest and most respected organizations of its kind dedicated to home care and hospice. Based on a comparative analysis of agencies involved in Fazzi’s HHCAHPS system during 2014, SALMON’s results for Overall Satisfaction and Likelihood of Recommending survey questions placed the VNA & Hospice in the top 25% of Fazzi’s National Patient Satisfaction database.
Fazzi Associates Partner/HHCAHPS Director Gina L. Mazza, RN, BSN, presented SALMON VNA & Hospice with the Patient Satisfaction Award of Distinction. She explained the award is given to home health organizations that demonstrated superior performance in patient satisfaction in 2014.
“We are proud and honored to receive this recognition,” Mark acknowledged. “Our staff is comprised of highly skilled professionals who are committed to consistently providing quality care to our patients. It is gratifying to know our patients recognize these qualities and are willing to positively respond to patient satisfaction surveys.”