The award winners for 2012 are Ridgefield VNA (Ridgefield, CT) and the Community Nurse and Hospice (Fairhaven, MA). A synopsis of their programs follow.
The VNA of Ridgefield (RVNA) received the award for Quality Living at Home (QLAH), a free community outreach program that helps seniors and others remain in their communities in a safe, healthy and connected way. This program draws on RVNA’s many community programs and clinics through senior advocacy and the coordination of services across the broader community including fire, police, pharmacy, grocery, ministry, senior center, transportation, home maintenance, insurance, legal and community volunteers and other community assets. At the same time, it provides added value to our home healthcare service. It serves as an early warning system on the front end by anticipating needs and confronting potential problems before they occur and, on the back end, by providing different levels of ongoing support once the home healthcare “episode” is over. Since its inception in 2009, QLAH has touched thousands of seniors through its targeted programs, the 24/7 Call Center and assisted interventions for seniors and their families. QLAH allows RVNA to respond to the real “continuum of care” needs of seniors by preventative quality of life advocacy and direct ongoing coordination of support, allowing seniors to remain in their homes as long as possible. Both directly and indirectly, the holistic, community based approach of QLAH enables RVNA to further reduce patient costs, improve quality outcomes and increase access to care.
The Community Nurse & Hospice Care (CNHC) received the award for its Empowering our Patients in the Community (EPC) Approach. With health care payment and delivery reform, Community Nurse & Hospice Care is dedicated to safety, compassion, efficiency and always going above and beyond for Its patients and community. While a universal approach is necessary, CNHC recognizes that home care agencies are an integral part of this growth and development. Home health providers must work with patients, families, physicians, hospitals and skilled nursing facilities to continually improve the quality of care, efficiency of cost and access to care for our community. VNAs must offer continuity in care, high-touch management and a patient centered approach within the community; both post and prior to the pursuit of more expensive and complex care. Increasing access to ongoing care through the development of an effective and efficient coordinated care model that addresses the gap between skilled home care and expensive hospital care for high risk patients is essential. CNHC developed an innovated three-pronged approach to address these vital goals with Empowering our Patients in the Community (EPC). The EPC approach was developed to identified these key areas of need: Chronic Disease Management, Direct Admit to Skilled Nursing Facility and Patient Education and Empowerment. They already see great success and envision this as just the first step in the evolution of CNHC’s enhanced offerings.