Contact: Roy Garland
207-391-6513 / roy.garland@mainehealth.org
SACO, Maine – Effective in October, the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) will elevate MaineHealth Care at Home’s (MHCAH) Quality of Patient Care star rating to 3 stars, up from 2.5.
The Quality of Patient Care star rating system assesses home health and hospice agencies based on Outcome and Assessment Information Set (OASIS) assessment and Medicare claims data. Specifically, data sets for measures of timely initiation of care, improvement in ambulation, improvement in bed transferring, improvement in bathing, improvement in shortness of breath, improvement in management of oral medications, and acute care hospitalization are utilized to quantify care quality and safety so that patients, families, and providers can evaluate the best resources available.
This upgrade is attributable to a set of initiatives at the agency aimed at reducing the time between referral and admission/first visit and a reinforcement of particular aspects of the home health plan of care. Most of all, the upgrade is a testament to the care teams and staff for their attention to detail and consistency as they have put into action a number of intentional strategies across numerous departments.
Chris Costello, director of quality, compliance and innovation for MHCAH, recognized the cumulative efforts of the team as the driving force behind the recent and measurable improvements.
“We have highly skilled and compassionate clinical care team supported by dedicated and caring leaders. With this team and our entire organization’s commitment to providing the best possible care, this is just the beginning. We will continue to work every day to provide the excellent care that our communities deserve.”
The Quality of Patient Care rating is accompanied by the Patient Experience rating on CMS Care Compare platform. At this time, MHCAH sits at 4 stars for Patient Experience.
Learn more about Care Compare here.
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About MaineHealth Care at Home
MaineHealth Care at Home provides a full range of high-quality, home-based health services to people of all ages in York, Cumberland, Lincoln, Knox, Waldo, Sagadahoc and southern Oxford counties. Care is delivered by professionally-trained nurses, physical and occupational therapists, speech language pathologists, home health aides, nutritional counselors and social workers. With advanced clinical skills and expertise, our clinical team helps patients regain strength after surgery, manage chronic illness, age in place and achieve a higher quality of life. MaineHealth Care at Home is a fully licensed 501(c)(3) not-for-profit organization and a member of MaineHealth.