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Nightingale Home Healthcare Joins Home Health Quality Initiative to Improve Quality of Care Delivered by Home Health Agencies
Quality Information Posted on Medicare's Web Site, 'Home Health Compare,' Will Enable Consumers to Make More Informed Decisions on Home Health Care
Illinois, 2/11/04 Nightingale Home Healthcare announced today that it has joined the national Home Health Quality Initiative to further improve the quality of care received by the 3.5 million elderly and disabled Americans who receive care from nearly 7,000 Medicare certified home health agencies nationwide annually. The initiative gives consumers the ability to gain easy access to important, objective healthcare information to help make more informed decisions when choosing a home health care provider for themselves or a loved one. The date is part of a new Home Health Quality Initiative (HHQI) of the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS), a federal agency of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, designed to improve quality of a care provided by home health agencies through public reporting and community-based efforts.
"As a partner in this quality initiative, we recognize the opportunity to work collaboratively with the Illinois Foundation for Quality Health Care will expand our knowledge and resources to help us achieve greater and more immediate improvement in our services," said Debbie Griffin. "And as a leading provider of home health care in Illinois, we are committed to providing the best possible quality of care for our consumers."
The HHQI releases new quality data to give seniors and their families' comparative information about home health agencies' quality of care, and through its participation, Nightingale Home Healthcare is further illustrating its commitment to offering the highest quality of home health care in Illinois. Consumers can obtain the comparative data by going on-line at www.medicare.gov and clicking on Home Health Compare. They can also request information by calling toll-free at 1-800-MEDICARE.
"A key step towards improving quality is getting consumers the information they need to make informed health care choices," said Dr. Brar. "As a leading provider of home health services in Illinois, we are committed to the best possible quality of care and are actively involved in this initiative."
Consumers are encouraged to use this information as one tool in an overall strategy to learn about home health care. Additional information available on-line or by phone includes brochures and fact sheets on how to choose a home health agency, information on patient rights, and a checklist that will help consumers begin the dialogue with a home health agency.
For more information about the Home Health Quality Initiative or about other quality improvement projects now underway at the Illinois Foundation for Quality Health Care, call Chris Mortell, media specialist, at (630) 928-5819
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The Illinois Foundation for Quality Health Care is a non-profit organization contracting with CMS to implement Home Health Quality Initiative, the Nursing Home Quality Initiative, which launched last year, and other quality initiative. IFQHC works to improve the quality of care for Medicare beneficiaries through quality improvement activities and outreach to doctors, providers and beneficiaries. For more information about IFQHC, call (800) 647-8089 or visit us at www.ifqhc.org.
To learn more about Nightingale Home Healthcare, visit their website at www.HomeCareForYou.com.
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