Excellent Care Reflected in Awards and Ratings

Excellent Care Reflected in Quality Awards and Star Ratings at UCH

United Church Homes’ (UCH) commitment to quality care and continuous improvement in all areas of the organization runs deep. That commitment is especially relevant in highly regulated skilled nursing centers and assisted living communities that serve the most vulnerable residents. UCH benefits by both voluntary and governmentmandated assessments that inform its many policies and practices and demonstrate how UCH communities rank in these two key areas relative to similar communities.

UCH is well represented in the ranks of National Quality Award Program recipients honored by the American Health Care Association and the National Center for Assisted Living. The program is a rigorous three-level process that evaluates an organization’s capabilities against nationally recognized standards for excellence: the Baldrige Excellence Framework. It is one of the most comprehensive performance assessments available to long-term and post-acute facilities.

The AHCA/NCAL program includes three award levels: Bronze – Commitment to Quality; Silver – Achievement in Quality; and Gold – Excellence in Quality. Each higher level requires a more detailed demonstration of superior performance. Organizations must first apply for the Bronze Award, which requires applicants to assess their organization’s mission, vision and key factors that lead to success. Bronze-level honorees then may apply for the Silver Award after achieving Bronze, which requires applicants to thoroughly assess how their organization works, its effectiveness and tools for improvement in their approaches. Silver-level recipients are eligible to next apply for the Gold Award, which requires applicants to show superior performance in leadership, strategic planning and customer and staff satisfaction.

Debra Durbin, executive director at The Chapel Hill Community takes time to chat with a resident

UCH participates in the National Quality Award Program because leaders learn from the feedback and perspective of experts outside UCH and the program helps UCH become stronger, more resilient and results-focused.

Six UCH communities earned National Quality Awards in 2021: The Parkvue Community received a Bronze; The Fairhaven, Four Winds, Harmar Place, Trinity Community at Beavercreek and Trinity Community at Fairwood received Silver level recognition.

“These awards represent quality care, continuous improvement and staff expertise and dedication”, said UCH President and Chief Executive Officer Rev. Dr. Kenneth Daniel. “They demonstrate our deep commitment to quality and to those we are honored to serve.”

UCH skilled nursing communities also are regulated at both the state and federal levels. Annual assessments of compliance and quality care are reflected in star ratings published by Medicare. The star ratings help those seeking long-term care to make well-informed decisions about where they receive services. The Medicare star rating system combines results and data from three important sources: health inspections, staffing, and quality of resident care measures. Like the National Quality Awards, the regulatory assessments serve to promote a continuous improvement mindset that leads to quality care for UCH residents.

“Achieving and maintaining quality in clinical care is a daily team effort,” said The Fairhaven Community Director of Nursing Karen Webb. “We’re proud of the four-star rating we earned for the third quarter of 2021, but we’re always looking for ways to further improve. It takes an interdisciplinary team totally committed to quality to achieve that. We coach, we share best practices, we collaborate and we constantly ask, ‘How can we do even better?’ in every aspect of our clinical operations.”

The staffing assessment includes a review of nursing staff work schedules and other key data. The quality of care component of the assessment looks at individual patients’ condition and care to find out: Have they lost weight? Have they experienced a fall?

“There are lots of moving parts,” explained Wendell Torrey, executive director at The Pilgrim Manor Community, which also earned a four-star rating for the third quarter of 2021. “It’s a rigorous, ongoing process that requires staff expertise, teamwork and a commitment to providing the best care possible for every resident.”

“What we do isn’t easy, but it’s very rewarding,” Webb added. “Ultimately, everything we do ties back to UCH’s mission, vision and core values and our commitment to building and maintaining a culture of community, wholeness and peace for the patients we serve.”

In addition to the UCH focus on quality care, our skilled nursing communities are part of The Long- Term Care Equality Index (LEI), a joint project of SAGE and the Human Rights Campaign Foundation formed to help provide inclusive care for LGBT older adults in residential care communities. Nearly all of United Church Homes communities are featured in the 2021 inaugural report.

UCH COMMUNITIES CURRENT QUALITY AWARDS STATUS

SILVER

The Chapel Hill Community

The Fairhaven Community

The Four Winds Community

The Glenwood Community

The Harmar Place Community

The Trinity Community at Fairborn

The Trinity Community at Beavercreek

BRONZE

SEM Haven

The Parkvue Community

Uplands Village