PINEHURST — FirstHealth Home Care has again achieved the highest possible five-star rating for patient satisfaction from the Consumer Assessment of Healthcare Providers and Systems Home Health Care Survey. For the second consecutive year, FirstHealth’s rankings in the patient satisfaction measures of the survey are above the state and national average for Medicare-certified home care agencies.
“It’s an honor to know that our patients continue to rank our services at the highest level,” says Connie Christopher, director of FirstHealth Home Care. “It has been a challenging year, but our team has worked hard to ensure we maintain that high quality of care our patients expect and deserve. We are pleased that commitment does not go unnoticed.”
The purpose of the CAHPS Home Health Care Survey is to gather information from patients (or their family or friends) about experiences with a home health agency. The survey asks patients about their home health care, and if they would recommend that agency to someone else. Survey results also provide information to home health agencies on where to focus their quality improvement efforts. Star ratings are based on three composite measures: care of patients, communication between providers and patients and specific care issues.
The survey was nationally implemented in 2009, and survey results have been publicly reported since 2012. Star ratings have been assigned since 2015.
The patient experience of care survey asks patients to answer questions about the following five topics.
- How often did the home health team give care in a professional way?
- How well did the home health providers communicate with patients?
- Did the home health providers discuss medicines, pain and home safety with patients?
- How do patients rate the overall care from the home health agency?
- Would patients recommend the home health agency to friends and family?
FirstHealth Home Care serves patients throughout Moore, Lee, Richmond, Montgomery, Hoke and Scotland counties.
Services include direct nursing care such as disease/medication management and education, IV infusion therapy, wound care, ostomy care, telehealth monitoring and teaching caregivers and supervisors of care. FirstHealth Home Care also provides physical and occupational therapy, social workers to assist with long-term planning, referrals to community resources and assistance with financial concerns, and home health aides for assistance with personal care.
For more information about FirstHealth Home Care, visit www.firsthealth.org/homecare. For more information about the CAHPS Home Health Care Survey, visit www.medicare.gov/homehealthcompare.
