KENNEDY HOME HEALTH RECEIVES FOUR-STAR RATING FROM CMS
Thursday, July 30, 2015
press release
Voorhees, NJ – Kennedy Home Health Care has received a Four-Star rating in the new Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) program that evaluates home care companies across the country. Kennedy Home Health Care is the only agency in its service area of Camden, Gloucester and Burlington counties to receive a Four-Star (out of a possible Five-Star) rating.
2015 marks the first time that Medicare has established a Five-Star rating program for Home Care companies. These ratings, made public in July, can be found on its Home Health Care Compare (HHC) website (www.medicare.gov/homehealthcompare).
The HHC ratings are a compilation of the Home Health Compare scores (from data related to patient health status submitted to Medicare each month) along with patient feedback. Nine measures – ranging from timely initiation of care to improvement in ambulation – figure into the final score. The range of services provided by Kennedy Home Health Care includes: nursing care, physical therapy, occupational therapy (rehabilitation in performing daily tasks), speech therapy, medical social services, and home health aides.
The goal of HHC ratings is to provide consumers with tools to help them make the best decisions regarding their healthcare. New Jersey ranks 5th in the country in the number of home health agencies that have four or five stars, according to the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS).
Home Health agencies are the sixth category of healthcare groups that has received “Star” ratings, following ratings for nursing homes, doctors, dialysis facilities, Medicare Advantage plans, and hospitals.
Established in 1988, Kennedy Home Health Care employs more than 115 healthcare professionals who make more than 60,000 home visits each year to help area residents improve and maintain their health.
Kennedy is a health services delivery system serving the communities of southern New Jersey. Kennedy meets the community’s healthcare needs with services at its hospital campuses in Cherry Hill, Stratford, and Washington Township and at outpatient facilities throughout Camden and Gloucester counties.
Kennedy University Hospital is the Principal hospital of the Rowan University School of Osteopathic Medicine (RowanSOM). Kennedy is also a member of the Penn Cancer Network and the Jefferson Neurosciences Network (JNN). For more information, visit www.kennedyhealth.org