Holyoke VNA Hospice Life Care Achieves Four-star Ratings from CMS

HOLYOKE — Holyoke Visiting Nurse Assoc. (VNA) Hospice Life Care achieved a four-star rating by the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) in three different areas. For home health services, Holyoke VNA achieved four stars in both Quality of Patient Care and Patient Survey Rating. Hospice Life Care also maintains four stars for Family Caregiver Survey, an achievement the agency has reached for several consecutive years.

“We are incredibly proud of our team in attaining these prestigious ratings by CMS,” said April Bartley, executive director of Holyoke VNA Hospice Life Care. “A four-star rating means that Holyoke VNA Hospice Life Care performed better than most other agencies in the country in the areas of quality patient care, as well as on surveys completed directly by patients and families themselves.”

The Quality of Patient Care star ratings are based on seven measures of quality that give a general overview of performance, including how often patients got better at walking or moving around, how often patients got better at getting in and out of bed, how often patients got better at bathing, how often patients’ breathing improved, how often the home health team began their patients’ care in a timely manner, how often patients got better at taking their drugs correctly by mouth, and how often patients were admitted to the hospital for a potentially preventable condition while receiving home healthcare.

The Patient and Family Caregiver surveys ask patients, family members, and friends about their home health or hospice care, how well the agency communicated, and if they would recommend that agency to someone else.