by Stephen Knapp
Good, better, best.
If you’ve ever had need of Mount Evans Home Health Care & Hospice, then you already know how good it is. For more than 30 years Mount Evans’ staff and volunteers have worked tirelessly to find ways to serve their mountain-area neighbors better and better. And, just a few weeks ago, the small nonprofit sailed past a whole lot of major home health players to be named one of the country’s 100 best.
Judged by relatively subjective standards like compassion, dedication and professionalism, that recognition is doubtless long overdue. But the National Research Corporation (NRC), in partnership with DecisionHealth, quite deliberately – and quite correctly – compile their annual list of the country’s HomeCare Elite by purely objective criteria. And if Mount Evans looks good in person, it’s even better by the numbers.
Based on exhaustive examination of publicly available records, the independent evaluation grades every home health care agency in the nation in key areas like quality of care, quality improvement and consistency, patient experience and financial performance.
Significantly weighted toward quality of care, that scale provides a clear-eyed appraisal of both a provider’s institutional health and its success at supporting the health of its clients. Slick public relations won’t improve an organization’s standing, nor will deep pockets or influential affiliations. Hard facts are the only authorities, and only concrete results are rewarded.
The NRC and DecisionHealth ran 9,996 home health care providers through that tight sieve in 2014, awarding coveted HomeCare Elite status to the top 25 percent – about 2,500 agencies selected by region. Of those, the field of excellence was further narrowed to the Top 500 and Top 100 providers based on their scores as compared to all other U.S. home health organizations.
Since the assessments began in 2006, Mount Evans has earned HomeCare Elite designation five times and been inducted into the Top 500 once. Today, as a decidedly small player in a field of giants, Mount Evans stands tall with the best one percent of America’s home health care agencies, a place it has earned by no more elaborate means than simply holding itself to the highest possible standards. Indeed, many mountain-area residents have come to accept a remarkably high degree of excellence as the norm. Mount Evans’ elevation to the Top 100 should serve as a reminder that its clients are, in fact, among the most fortunate one percent of home health care recipients in the country.
For the hard-working staff and volunteers who make Mount Evans tick, recognition as one of the country’s 100 best home health providers may be sweet, but the only approval that really matters is that freely given by their neighbors. Even so, executive director Kathy Engel would be well within her rights to do a little crowing on behalf of her organization. Instead, and in perfect keeping with Mount Evans’ unwavering community orientation, Engel prefers to view the honor from the perspective of those it exists to serve.
“I believe it’s comforting for all of us in our community to know that, if and when we need home health care or hospice services, we will be in good hands.”