AHCA/NCAL names National Quality Award winners

The American Health Care Association and National Center for Assisted Living (AHCA/NCAL) announced three long term and post-acute care providers have earned the 2017 Gold – Excellence in Quality Award. The award is the final of three distinct levels possible through the AHCA/NCAL National Quality Award Program, which recognizes organizations nationally that serve as models of excellence in providing high-quality care.

The 2017 Gold – Excellence in Quality Award recipiences are:

• Inova Loudoun Nursing and Rehabilitation Center in Leesburg, Virginia
• Edgemoor Distinct Part Skilled Nursing Facility (DPSNF) in Santee, California
• The Alverno Health Care Facility in Clinton, Iowa.

“This year’s recipients have demonstrated consistent results and improved quality of life for their patients and the residents,” said AHCA/NCAL President and CEO Mark Parkinson. “We are proud to recognize these organizations as leaders in quality care.”

Based on the core values and criteria of the nationally recognized Baldrige Performance Excellence Program, the AHCA/NCAL National Quality Award Program challenges member providers to achieve performance excellence through three progressive levels—Bronze, Silver and Gold. The Gold – Excellence in Quality Award is the most prestigious of the program. At this level, recipients have invested multiple years in mastering and applying the rigorous quality improvement standards of the Baldrige Criteria to achieve superior results in leadership, strategic planning, customer and workforce focus and operations and knowledge management.

“Gold award recipients have invested a significant amount of time into upholding the challenging Baldrige Criteria standards and achieving performance excellence,” said Alana Wolfe, Chair of the AHCA/NCAL National Quality Award Board of Overseers. “I applaud this year’s recipients for their outstanding accomplishments in quality.”

Since the inception of the National Quality Award Program in 1996, only 31 long term and post-acute care providers have achieved this level of quality recognition, apart from this year’s recipients.