Posted: 3/5/03

Birchwood Health Care wins national award

Birchwood Health Care Center in Forest Lake is one of 74 long-term care facilities in 26 states that have won the 2002 National Quality Award given by the American Health Care Association for demonstrating its strong commitment to quality improvement.

ìThere are many benefits to pursuing the level of excellence this award demands,î said state AHCA President and CEO Charles H. Roadman II, M.D.

ìIn addition to improved quality of life for nursing facility residents, the award demonstrates that systematic, data-driven quality initiatives create better places of employment, more effective managerial structures, and more active roles in the surrounding communities. Winners of this prestigious award know that the pursuit of excellence is a continuous journey, and that the journey is as important as the destination.î

AHCAís Quality Award is modeled after the criteria of the Malcolm Baldrige National Quality Award, the nationís premier award recognizing distinguished achievements. AHCAís award exemplifies the very best in long-term care nursing facilities, assisted living residences, and homes for persons with mental retardation or development disabilities, that demonstrate world class performance excellence and make quality a priority to better serve their customers, their staff, and their communities. The program also promotes peer and public recognition as a quality champion in the long-term care profession.

The AHCA Quality Awards consist of an entry level, Step I award and a more rigorous Step II award. In 2002, 69 facilities were recognized with the Step I award and an additional five facilities received the Step II award. Birchwood Health Care Center received the Step I award.

All of the facilities that applied for this award addressed how they integrated the elements of systematic quality into their operations. As a Step I winning applicant, Birchwood Health Care Center demonstrated its organization-wide commitment to a facility mission, identified its principal customers and their expectations, and indicated ways that it is striving to meet their needs.

ìRecipients of the Quality Award reflect long term careís commitment to meeting customer needs through sophisticated quality improvement efforts,î Dr. Roadman said. ìAn increasing number of facilities have embraced continuous quality improvement and recognize how this translates into richer lives for residents.î

The award was created in 1996 to respond to an increasingly consumer driven health care market's search for quantifiable indicators of quality in long term care. Sponsors of the Quality Awards are: Ross Products Division of Abbott Labs, Briggs Corporation, and the Tena Sponsorship Program from SCA Incontinence Care sponsored the 200 awards.

The American Health Care Association is a federation of affiliated state associations, representing nearly 12,000 non-profit nursing facilities, assisted living residences, and subacute care centers that provide care to more than one million elderly and disabled individuals nationally.

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