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VNA & Hospice of the Southwest Region Named as a Top Agency in the 2018 Ability HomeCare Elite

The Visiting Nurse Association & Hospice of the Southwest Region (VNAHSR) today announced that it has been named a Top Agency of the 2018 HomeCare Elite, recognition of the top-performing home health agencies in the United States. For 13 years, HomeCare Elite has annually identified the top 25 percent of Medicare-certified agencies and highlighted the top 100 and top 500 agencies overall. The VNAHSR has been recognized 10 times in the past 13 years.

The ranking is developed by ABILITY® Network, a leading information technology company helping providers and payers simplify the administrative and clinical complexities of healthcare. It is sponsored by DecisionHealth, publisher of Home Health Line and the Complete Home Health ICD-10-CM Diagnosis Coding Manual.

“I would like to congratulate the team at the VNA & Hospice of the Southwest Region and thank them for their commitment to providing consistently high-quality care,” said Christine Lang, senior director for ABILITY Network. “During a time of increasing demands on home health professionals’ time and attention, these caregivers and leaders have demonstrated that they have prioritized their patients and created a solid foundation for serving their communities and partnering with other healthcare providers.”

Ronald J. Cioffi, RN, and CEO of the VNA & Hospice of the Southwest Region credits the commitment of the staff and high standards of quality with the agency’s ability to achieve recognition as one of the HomeCare Elite. “I am so very proud of the work we do and this distinguished award honors the achievement of a very dedicated and engaged staff,” says Cioffi. “Healthcare today is being redefined, yet the VNA model of care of experience and expertise in the home setting has stayed especially relevant. This valued recognition of home-based health care is particularly meaningful as we continue to grow to meet the needs of our community.”

“Congratulations to the VNA & Hospice of the Southwest Region from all of the staff at DecisionHealth,” said Marci Geipe, product manager for Decision Health. “Your leadership and staff have placed a premium on the patient care your agency provides as showcased by your quality outcome scores. The entire community benefits from the compassion that your staff shows toward your patients, leading to cost savings for the entire healthcare system.”

HomeCare Elite agencies are determined by an analysis of performance measures in quality outcomes, best practices implementation, patient experience (HHCAHPS), quality improvement and consistency, and financial health. In order to be considered, an agency must be Medicare-certified and have data for at least three outcomes in Home Health Compare. Out of 8,898 agencies considered, 2,223 are recognized on the 2018 HomeCare Elite winners list overall.

The entire list of 2018 HomeCare Elite agencies can be downloaded by visiting the ABILITY Network website at abilitynetwork.com/hce.

[quote]“I would like to congratulate the team at the VNA & Hospice of the Southwest Region and thank them for their commitment to providing consistently high-quality care,” said Christine Lang, senior director for ABILITY Network. “During a time of increasing demands on home health professionals’ time and attention, these caregivers and leaders have demonstrated that they have prioritized their patients and created a solid foundation for serving their communities and partnering with other healthcare providers.”[/quote]

About the VNA & Hospice of the Southwest Region

Founded in Rutland, Vermont, the VNAHSR has grown to include locations throughout Bennington and Rutland Counties. VNAHSR is a non-profit, Medicare-certified home health and hospice agency delivering a wide-range of advanced medical care with compassion, dependability, and expertise to people of all ages.

With office locations in Bennington, Dorset, Manchester and Rutland, we have nearly 350 trusted health professionals and caregivers committed to providing exceptional care to patients and families.

Proud of our national reputation for quality care, VNAHSR is highly rated for Quality of Patient Care and Patient Satisfaction from the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services and is recognized as one of the nation’s top 100 performing home health agencies, by HomeCare Elite, a market-leading review that identifies top Medicare-certified agencies.

About ABILITY Network

ABILITY Network, an Inovalon Company (NASDAQ:INOV), is a leading cloud-based, SaaS information technology company helping providers and payers simplify the administrative and clinical complexities of healthcare through innovative applications and data analytics. The combination of myABILITY and the Inovalon ONE™ Platform creates a vertically integrated cloud-based platform empowering the achievement of real-time value-based care from payers, manufacturers and diagnostics, all the way to the patient’s point of care. For more information, visit www.abilitynetwork.com or write to resources@abilitynetwork.com. For more information about HomeCare Elite, call 888.572.4009, write to homecareelite@abilitynetwork.com or visit www.abilitynetwork.com/hce.

About H3.Group

In March 2017, Simplify Compliance LLC announced the merger of DecisionHealth, LLC with existing brands HCPro and HealthLeaders Media, to form the H3.Group! H3.Group, with its three pillars of thought leadership, expertise, and application, provides critical insight, analysis, tools and training to healthcare organizations nationwide empowering today’s healthcare professionals with solution-focused information and intelligence to guide their organizations’ efforts in achieving compliance, financial performance, leadership, and organizational excellence. The creation of the H3.Group comes as healthcare faces an unprecedented period of transition that brings uncertainty and opportunity. As policies and regulations are revisited and payment models changed, the need for clarity, actionable guidance and expert training for all provider settings and functional areas will increase dramatically.

About DecisionHealth

For over 30 years, DecisionHealth, an H3.Group brand, has served as the industry’s leading source for news, analysis and instructional guidance with brand names such as Home Health Line and Part B News. Our unique blend of award-winning on-staff journalists and unmatched access to health care executives, providers and their administrative staffs results in business management advice and operationally focused editorial that has captured the attention of nearly 100,000 home health care professionals and specialty physician practices.