Burns Nursing & Rehab earns national quality award
Burns Nursing & Rehab in Russellville is a 2017 recipient of the Silver – Achievement in Quality Award for outstanding performance in the health care profession. It is the ninth Alabama skilled nursing care center to earn this prestigious award.
The award is the second of three distinctions possible through the National Quality Award Program, presented by the American Health Care Association and the National Center for Assisted Living. The competitive award program highlights select skilled nursing care centers 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.
“Quality improvement is a journey, not a destination,” Burns Nursing & Rehab administrator Mark DeArman said. “Since my grandparents founded this nursing home in 1966, we’ve always worked to provide better care for our residents and rehab patients. Earning this award is another milestone in our journey.”
DeArman said their journey to excellent patient care would not be possible without the dedication, determination and genuine caring spirit displayed by their staff. “We are so fortunate to have a staff full of people who truly care about our residents,” DeArman said. “They are dedicated to making sure we have the best patient outcomes possible and to making sure that each and every resident is cared for just like they are members of their own family.
“This community that we have here at Burns is important to all of us, and we are glad to have staff members who share those feelings and work as a team to carry out our mission by improving the quality of life of one resident, one family, in our community one day at a time.”
Implemented by AHCA/NCAL in 1996, the National Quality Award Program is based on the core values and criteria of the Baldrige Performance Excellence Program. The program assists providers of long-term and post-acute care services in achieving their performance excellence goals. The program has three levels: Bronze, Silver and Gold. Centers begin the quality improvement process at the Bronze level and must receive an award at each level before proceeding to the next.
As a recipient of the Silver – Achievement in Quality Award, Burns Nursing & Rehab has demonstrated systematic advancements in quality, plans for continual improvement and sustainable organizational goals. The center may now move forward in developing approaches and achieving performance levels that meet the criteria required for the Gold – Excellence in Quality Award, which requires addressing the Baldrige Health Care Criteria for Performance Excellence in its entirety.
“I am honored to recognize this year’s Silver award recipients for their dedication to delivering quality care,” said Alana Wolfe, Chair of the AHCA/NCAL National Quality Award Board of Overseers. “I applaud Burns Nursing & Rehab’s ability to effectively apply the Baldrige criteria to improve quality performance.”
Burns Nursing & Rehab is one of 191 centers nationally receiving the silver level award in 2017. The awards will be presented to recipients Oct. 18 during AHCA/NCAL’s 68th Annual Convention & Expo in Las Vegas, Nev.
The award notification follows Burns Nursing & Rehab’s recently-completed annual inspection by the Alabama Department of Public Health. After a three-day, onsite review in June, a team of inspectors declared that Burns Nursing & Rehab was “deficiency free” because it met all the criteria set forth by the federal government. According to data from the American Health Care Association, 7.9 percent of Alabama nursing homes have been declared deficiency free in the past year.
“Few people realize nursing homes are one of the most regulated businesses in the United States, and we’re the only Alabama healthcare provider that’s inspected annually,” DeArman said. “The people we serve and their families can take comfort in that fact.”
