In Brief
- The Home Care departments of Crozer-Chester Medical Center, Delaware County Memorial Hospital and Taylor Hospital were named "Home Health Quality Champions" by Quality Insights of Pennsylvania.
- To qualify for the awards, each facility showed improvement in several areas, such as the percentage of patients who get better at walking or moving around, getting in and out of bed, and getting to and from the toilet.
- Crozer-Keystone Home Care facilities performed markedly better than other local, state and national facilities, according to the government's "Home Health Compare" website.
The Home Care departments of Crozer-Chester Medical Center, Delaware County Memorial Hospital and Taylor Hospital have been named "Home Health Quality Champions" by an organization dedicated to improving the health of Pennsylvania residents.
Quality Insights of Pennsylvania, the commonwealth's Medicare Quality Improvement Organization, has recognized all three sites for demonstrating marked improvement in several areas.
"Crozer-Keystone Health System is committed to providing quality care to all of our patients, and our Home Care departments strive to achieve that goal by providing care based on the latest medical evidence and research," says Joan K. Richards, chief operating officer of Crozer-Keystone Health System and president of CKHS Hospitals. "These awards serve as a fitting tribute to all of the hard work of our Home Care nurses, physicians and staff members."
In order to qualify for the awards, all three Home Care sites were required to submit a plan of action to Quality Insights before July 31, 2004. The plan was then used to evaluate each department's progress in achieving significant improvement compared to their prior year for their targeted outcome 6 months post-implementation, as well as their ability to sustain significant improvement for three months through July 31, 2004.
Home Care sites were evaluated using several criteria, including:
- Percentage of patients who get better at walking or moving around, getting in and out of bed, and getting to and from the toilet;
- Percentage of patients who have less pain when moving around;
- Percentage of patients who get better at bathing and getting dressed;
- Percentage of patients who get better at taking their medicines correctly; and
- Percentage of patients who are confused less often.
Marc Edelman, CKHS vice president, notes that the site allows users to see how Crozer-Keystone Home Care facilities stack up against local, state and national agencies.
"In most of the evaluated criteria, CKHS sites scored better than state and national averages," Edelman says. "Our Home Care departments also do extremely well compared to other sites in the county."
In addition to the Home Health study, Crozer-Keystone has worked with Quality Insights on several past initiatives, including an initiative to improve rates of pneumococcal vaccination among hospital patients. Reporting of vaccination rates is also part of Crozer-Keystone's commitment to evidence-based medicine.
For more information about Home Care at Crozer-Keystone Health System, call Crozer-Chester Medical Center Home Care at (610) 447-2360; Delaware County Memorial Hospital Home Care at (610) 284-0700; or Taylor Hospital Home Care at (610) 595-6430.