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Delmarva Foundation Announces Medicare Excellence Award Winners
Recipients honored at Annual "Courage to Improve" Conference

Greenbelt, MD, November 9, 2005 - Delmarva Foundation, Medicare’s Quality Improvement Organization for Maryland and the District of Columbia, today announced the winners of its annual Medicare Quality Excellence Awards. The awards were given at Delmarva’s third annual The Courage to Improve III: Best Practices and Transparency in Quality Improvement Conference, held at Martin’s Crosswinds in Greenbelt. Nearly 500 healthcare CEOs, administrators, and medical staff were in attendance at the event, which is a forum for healthcare professionals from the Mid- Atlantic to share best practices and strategies for improving the quality of patient care within hospitals, home health agencies, and nursing homes.

The purpose of Delmarva’s Excellence awards is to recognize performance improvement on quality measures specific to each healthcare setting.  "Delmarva Foundation is pleased with the number of hospitals, nursing homes, and home health agencies that are providing quality care to residents in Maryland and the District of Columbia,” said Maulik Joshi, DrPH, President and CEO of the Delmarva Foundation. "Meeting the criteria for these awards demonstrates a commitment to excellence by these facilities and exceptional leadership within their field. We commend the award winners for helping lead the way to making Mid-Atlantic hospitals, nursing homes, and home health agencies the safest in the nation.”

The following is a list of awards and recipients:

2005 Medicare Quality Excellence Award for Hospitals: The purpose of this award is to recognize the top 10 percent of hospitals that achieve greatest improvement in the composite of the 10 measures set which includes five acute myocardial infarction, two heart failure and three pneumonia measures. Hospitals must pass validation in order to be eligible for this award.   This year’s winners are:
Garrett County Memorial Hospital: Oakland, Maryland
Edward McCready Memorial Hospital: Crisfield, Maryland
Saint Joseph Medical Center: Towson, Maryland
Sibley Memorial Hospital: Washington, D.C.
Upper Chesapeake Medical Center: Bel Air, Maryland

2005 Nursing Home Quality Excellence Award: This award is given those nursing homes whose average score on the following four publicly reported quality measures were within the top five percent of nursing homes nationwide: pressure ulcer, restraints, depression, and chronic pain. This year’s winners are:
Alice Manor Nursing Home: Baltimore, Maryland
Calvert County Nursing Center: Prince Frederick, Maryland
Carriage Hill Bethesda: Bethesda, Maryland
Caton Manor: Baltimore, Maryland
Dennett Road Manor: Oakland, Maryland
Gladys Spellman Specialty Hospital and Nursing Center: Cheverly, Maryland
Hartley Hall Nursing Home, Inc: Pocomoke City, Maryland
Hillhaven Nursing Center: Adelphi, Maryland
Holly Hill Manor, Inc: Towson, Maryland
Lorien Nursing and Rehabilitation Center: Belcamp, Maryland
Methodist Home: Washington, D.C.
Moran Manor Nursing Home: Westernport, Maryland
St. Joseph’s Nursing Home: Catonsville, Maryland
South River Health and Rehabilitation Center: Edgewater, Maryland
Westminster Nursing and Rehabilitation Center: Westminster, Maryland
William Hill Manor Healthcare: Easton, Maryland

2005 Nursing Home Performance Improvement Award: The purpose of this award is to recognize individual nursing home performance and positive outcomes on the clinical quality measures: pressure ulcer, pain, depression, and physical restraints.  The award demonstrates a nursing home’s commitment to excellence and serves as a continuing reminder of quality improvement.  The winners met the following award criteria: They improved their individual quality measure rate by 50 percent or more in at least two of six quality measures, sustaining that improvement for at least two consecutive quarters. One of these measures was either the reduction in the use of physical restraints or pressure ulcers in low risk or high risk residents. This year’s winning nursing homes are:
Althea Woodland Nursing Center: Silver Spring, Maryland
Jeanne Jugan Residence: Washington, D.C.
Medlink Nursing Center: Washington, D.C.
Methodist Home: Washington, D.C.
Northwest Healthcare Center: Washington, D.C.
Sunrise at Thomas Circle: Washington, D.C.

The Home Health Quality Excellence Award: The purpose of this award is to recognize home health agencies that have among the lowest Acute Care Hospitalization rates nationwide. Winning agencies rate within the top 10 percent of all agencies nationwide for the period of March 2004 – February 2005. The winners are:
ASAP Services Corporation: Washington, D.C.
Charlestown Community Home Health Agency: Baltimore, Maryland
Peninsula Home Care, LLC: Salisbury, Maryland
VMT Home Health Agency: Washington, D.C.

The Campaign for Medicare Excellence Award for Performance Improvement for Home Health: The purpose of this award is to recognize individual Home Health Agency performance improvement in one of the 41 Target Measures. In addition to attending an Outcomes Based Quality Improvement Training Program and developing a custom plan of action, winning agencies must achieve a 10 percent absolute improvement in at least one target outcome of their choice. This year’s winners are:
Amedisys Home Health of Maryland: Glen Burnie, Maryland
Baltimore County Department of Health: Baltimore, Maryland
Bel Care, Inc: Bel Air, Maryland
Community Home Health of Maryland: Waldorf, Maryland
HMI Home Health Division: Washington, D.C.
Home Health Care of Washington County Hospital Association: Hagerstown, Maryland
Medstar Health Visiting Nurses Association of Baltimore: Baltimore, Maryland

Medstar Health Visiting Nurses Association of Beltsville: Beltsville, Maryland
Medstar Health Visiting Nurses Association of the District of Columbia
Montgomery General Hospital Home Health: Olney, Maryland
PB Home Health Care: Baltimore, Maryland
Professional Healthcare Resource: Lanham, Maryland
Saint Agnes Home Care: Baltimore, Maryland
Stella Maris Inc. Home Health Agency: Baltimore, Maryland
Tender Loving Care: Washington, D.C.
Upper Chesapeake/SJMC Home Care: Baltimore, Maryland
Western Maryland Home Health: Cumberland, Maryland

For more information, please visit www.delmarvafoundation.org

About Delmarva Foundation
Delmarva Foundation is a national, not-for-profit organization dedicated to improving healthcare quality in over 20 states. Since 1973, Delmarva has assisted in improving care in hospitals, nursing homes, home health agencies, medical practices and health plans. Delmarva performs quality improvement, quality assurance, utilization review, external quality review and Program Safeguard activities. The company's corporate headquarters are located in Easton, Maryland with other offices in Baltimore, Maryland; Washington, DC; Columbia, South Carolina; Tampa, Florida; and Tallahassee, Florida. For more information, please visit Delmarva Foundation on the web at www.delmarvafoundation.org.