FOR THE FIFTH CONSECUTIVE YEAR, A. HOLLY PATTERSON EXTENDED CARE FACILITY MAINTAINS 5 STARS CMS OVERALL QUALITY RATING IN RECENT CMS QUALITY INDICATOR SURVEY
Victor F. Politi, MD, FACP, FACEP Michael B. Mirotznik, Esq.,
President/CEO Chairman Board of Directors
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
April 27, 2015
PRESS CONTACT:
Shelley Lotenberg
shelley@numc.edu
516-572-6055
FOR THE FIFTH CONSECUTIVE YEAR, A. HOLLY PATTERSON EXTENDED CARE FACILITY MAINTAINS 5 STARS CMS OVERALL QUALITY RATING IN RECENT CMS QUALITY INDICATOR SURVEY
EAST MEADOW, NY…Victor F. Politi, MD, FACP, FACEP, President/CEO of the NuHealth System, proudly announces that, in the most recent Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Nursing Home Compare Ratings of Nursing Homes incorporating data reported through March 31, 2015, the A. Holly Patterson Extended Care Facility in Uniondale, had retained its five stars in overall quality. This ranking from the federal government to nursing homes consists of overall rating, health inspections, nurse staffing and quality measures of individual care.
“For the fifth consecutive year and in our most recent New York State Department of Health Quality Indicator Survey, the A. Holly Patterson Extended Care Facility has retained its five out of five star rating by the CMS, placing A. Holly Patterson in the top 2% of all nursing homes in the state of New York. This is an exceptional achievement and speaks to the continued high quality of care provided by the staff at the nursing home. It also speaks to the administrative leadership of Robert Heatley, Executive Vice President and Interim AHP Administrator and Harold McDonald, Executive Vice President for Administration,” stated Dr. Politi. “Congratulations to the entire team for maintaining the tremendous success of the overall turnaround strategy.”
In 2011 the New York State Department of Health initiated a new survey process called the Quality Indicator Survey. Stage 1 of the process is driven primarily by interviews with residents, families, staff and surveyor observations. The interview responses guide surveyors towards areas which have the potential to be deficiencies. In Stage 2, all of these areas are investigated in depth. Since the entire process is computerized, the surveyors are directed by the program whether or not a deficiency exists.
“A. Holly Patterson was surveyed under this process. One week later, the DOH survey team informed us that we passed “with flying colors”. Our nursing home scored so well, that we retained our five stars rating by CMS. I am proud to be part of a team that is dedicated to the provision of high quality resident care,” stated Heatley.
The new rankings are built atop the data and ratings found on Nursing Home Compare, a federal website created by the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services. The agency collects and analyzes information on more than 15,500 nursing homes nationwide that accept Medicare or Medicaid residents and rates the facilities on numerous measures from safe food preparation to the amount of nursing care per resident.
The three yardsticks that CMS uses to rate nursing homes cover these areas:
Health inspections: Indicates compliance in regular inspections with Medicare and Medicaid standards concerning food safety, hiring practices, and other aspects of healthcare. Besides looking into such matters as safe food preparation and adequacy of infection control, they evaluate residents’ rights and their quality of life, among other issues. The rating is based on the number, seriousness, and scope of deficiencies that shoed in the three most recent health inspections and in complaint investigations during the previous three years.
Nurse Staffing: Indicates of time spent caring for residents by registered nurses, licensed practical nurses, licensed vocational nurses, and certified nursing assistants.
Quality measures: Indicates adequacy of care, such as percentage of residents with pain, bedsores, or urinary tract infections.
Heatley commended the A. Holly Patterson staff for their exceptional dedication and commitment to quality care for all 589 residents: “This recognition would not have been possible without our staff’s emphasis on quality of care and residents’ safety, with staff’s hard work day to day, leading to the financial and quality of care turnaround for a facility that had previously had numerous challenges and succeeded in accomplishing an astonishing turnaround.”
About A. Holly Patterson:
Located in a 63-acre campus in Uniondale, AHP is a skilled nursing facility where the skilled and caring health care professionals respond to the physical, social and emotional needs of each resident. On-site services include: rehabilitation services, diagnostic and radiology services, psychiatric care, psychotherapy, dental and ophthalmology care, podiatry services, cardiology evaluations and treatment and neurological testing. On-site ambulatory, clinics provide residents the convenience of accessible specialty medical care. Should inpatient hospital care be necessary, residents are transferred to the nearby Nassau University medical Center. Among the highly specialized units that make the A. Holly Patterson Extended Care Facility such an outstanding center are: secure dementia units, hospice care and the respiratory care unit, ventilator unit with 24-hour respiratory therapists, the wound care unit, the sub-acute rehabilitation unit, and HIVAIDS unit. AHP is nationally recognized for excellence in areas including: wound care, Alzheimer’s, pulmonary diseases and dementia. For additional information on AHP, please call 516-572-1400.
ABOUT NUHEALTH
NuHealth is a Long Island health care organization delivering essential medical care and disease and lifestyle management to everyone at every stage of life. Also known as Nassau Health Care Corporation, NuHealth is a public benefit corporation managing the operations of Nassau Medical Center, A. Holly Patterson Extended Care and a network of Family Health Centers that bring primary and specialty care out into the community. By emphasizing wellness, cultural sensitivity and collaborative efforts with the North Shore-LIJ Health System, NuHealth is working to make good care more affordable and easier to access.
For more information about NuHealth or its Centers of Care, visit www.nuhealth.net.