July 7, 2017                                                                                                Contact: Jim Suydam, 512-417-5382

 

Austin Nursing Facility Wins National Honor for Quality

 Recognition is hard-earned given state’s underfunding and heavy regulation

 (AUSTIN) — Riverside Nursing and Rehab Center in Austin has earned one of the highest honors awarded for quality of care, despite struggling with Texas’ chronic underfunding for nursing home care.

The American Health Care Association and National Center for Assisted Living (AHCA/NCAL) today announced the names of the 191 skilled nursing care centers and assisted living communities in 43 states that have earned the 2017 Silver – Achievement in Quality Award. The award is the second of three distinctions possible through the AHCA/NCAL National Quality Award Program, which recognizes providers across the nation that have demonstrated their commitment to improving quality of care for residents and patients in long term and post-acute care centers and communities.

“The staff and administration at Riverside Nursing and Rehab should be very proud — despite the state’s low-budget reimbursement rate they have demonstrated their commitment to provide quality care,” said Kevin Warren, President and CEO of the Texas Health Care Association. “Being able to demonstrate adherence to the demands of the Baldrige criteria and an effective approach to improving quality performance, in spite of the regulatory and reimbursement challenges in Texas is a true accomplishment. Considering all that, this national recognition was hard-earned.”

Riverside Nursing and Rehab Center in Austin was the only Texas recipient of the Silver Award this year.

“Silver award recipients are champions of performance excellence and quality health care outcomes,” said AHCA/NCAL President and CEO Mark Parkinson. “I commend their dedication to delivering solutions for quality care to the populations we serve.”

Based on the core values and criteria of the nationally recognized Baldrige Performance Excellence Program, which is also the foundation of the metric-based AHCA/NCAL Quality Initiative, the Association’s Quality Award program challenges member providers to achieve performance excellence through three progressive levels—Bronze, Silver, and Gold. Members at the Silver award level develop and demonstrate effective approaches that help improve performance and quality outcomes.

This year’s Silver recipients can now advance in developing approaches that meet the criteria required for the Gold – Excellence in Quality Award. On June 1, the Association announced the honorees of the Bronze – Commitment to Quality Award. A full list of Silver and Bronze recipients is available on the AHCA/NCAL Quality Award website here. Gold award recipients will be announced later this summer.

The program is sponsored by AHCA/NCAL Associate Business Members: First Quality, National Research Corporation, and Team TSI Corporation. The awards will be presented to recipients during AHCA/NCAL’s 68th Annual Convention & Expo in Las Vegas, Nevada, October 15-18, 2017.

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