The Thorne Group Ranks in the TOP 100 – AGAIN!
For the second year in a row, The Thorne Group was named to
the Top 100 Home Health agencies in the United States and the
Top 5 in Pennsylvania! Only 28% of the original list made it on
the list for two consecutive years. 7,422 agencies were ranked.
The ranking, performed by Outcome Concept Systems, scored
agencies on three categories – quality of care, quality
improvement and financial performance. The data utilized
comes from CMS’ Home Health Compare database and cost reports
submitted to CMS.
We’re very proud of our achievement, and prouder still that we
have been able to attain and maintain high quality performance
standards. We credit our administrator, Cheryl Dott, and YOU,
our fine staff of nurses, aides and office assistants, for
continuing dedication and hard work.
We appreciate the contributions made by each and every one of
you. Keep up the good work!
Caring at a Distance
As more and more families have children and potential care
givers living away from home, or working in various areas of the
country, it becomes difficult to care for parents and
grandparents from a long distance.
The Thorne Group, Inc. can help bridge the distance and make
family members aware of the best options available.
Available care systems for older adults can appear confusing and
fragmented to those unfamiliar with them. At The Thorne
Group, our Geriatric Care Manager can help bring it all together
for you.
Visit our Distant Caring page to
learn more.
2007 National Campaign names The Thorne Group a Premier
Campaign Participant.
As one of the first home health agencies to register, The
Thorne Group, Inc. has been granted Premier status in the 2007
Home Health Quality Improvement National Campaign.
The goal of the campaign is to help home
care patients remain comfortably at home, resulting in
fewer avoidable hospitalizations. By participating, The Thorne
Group pledges to work toward reducing the number of
hospitalizations while improving clinical outcomes and patient
satisfaction
The
campaign offers each participating agency a monthly Best
Practice Investigation Package. These packages highlight
best practice interventions that assist in reducing avoidable
acute care hospitalization.
Agencies also receive monthly data benchmarking reports to
assist in tracking progress. To learn more, visit
www.homehealthquality.org.
The Thorne Group, Inc. is committed to ensuring that home health
patients receive the right care in a caring and concerned
atmosphere, every time.
A TOP 100 Agency, Nationwide!
We just recently learned that we were ranked as one of the Top 100 Home Health Agencies in the nation, and one of the Top FIVE in PA, by an independent company using data provided by CMS (Medicare). There are approximately 7000 home health agencies in the United States and 350 agencies in the state of Pennsylvania. Quality of care, quality improvement and financial performance were the criteria. No other local agency was named to the list. For more information, visit Home Health Interactive to see the PDF file of the 2006 Home Care Elite.
We celebrated with a pizza and cake party, where we thanked and staff and nurses and especially recognized our administrator, Cheryl Dott, who has led us to this honor with her good patient care, thorough understanding of compliance issues, commitment to outcome based quality improvement and fine management skills. We’re proud of our accomplishments and will keep working hard to be a leader in our field.
Private Duty Project Participation
Pennsylvania recently passed a law requiring all private duty home health agencies (agencies not currently licensed as a health care facility by Pennsylvania) to be licensed. The effective time frame for licensure is within the next year. The Thorne Group has been invited to participate in establishing standards for licensure and will be offering input into the process at special meetings to be held for this purpose. Health, safety and practice issues will be topics of discussion in the establishment of standards to assure quality service delivery by private duty agencies.
Support for the Community
Agency owners Bill and Becky Thorne are both active in many community organizations, which they support with contributions of both time and dollars. “Westmoreland
County is a great community, with good people and lots of culture,” Becky says. “We are fortunate to live and work
in Youngwood and its surrounding communities, and we believe in giving back to the community that we enjoy so much.” Becky recently joined the Women’s Leadership Council, a philanthropic organization committed to bringing about positive community change. The Council’s initial project is to fund Faith in Action, a local organization which serves the elderly with escort, respite and other services which are free to the recipient. Each member’s pledge was matched with an equal amount from the Richard King Mellon Foundation.
Becky believes that it is important to assist our elderly through every available means, including volunteer organizations.
The Thorne Group Nursing Scholarship
The Thorne Group Nursing Scholarship will be awarded for the first time in the spring of 2007. Candidates from a local high school will be eligible to apply for funds that will substantially defray tuition and other expenses related to earning a registered nursing degree through Westmoreland County Community College. The Thornes are addressing the critical shortage of nurses in this way and are also exploring options for promoting the teaching of nursing, another area of demand.
Geriatric Care Manager Reissued
National Credential
Mindy Shaw, our geriatric care manager, has been recertified
as a Board Certified Diplomat in Clinical Social Work (BCD), a
national credential issued to advanced practitioners by the
American Board of Examiners in Clinical Social Work. BCD
recertification is annual and is based on the attainment of
specified levels of continuing education, currency of practice
and maintenance of state licensure in good standing.
Mindy has provided mental-emotional healthcare services to
geriatric patients in the Greensburg Area for over twenty three
years. Mindy provides geri care services through The Thorne
Group and also coordinates and supervises our private duty
services.
Medicare Statistics Show Agency’s Excellence
According to
Home Health Compare, the Medicare-maintained
webpage on home health agency performance statistics, The Thorne
Group consistently exceeds both state and national averages in
improvement of certain patient outcomes, even though our patient
population is much older than state and national averages. In
addition, The Thorne Group typically surpasses the performance
of other local home health agencies in many outcomes categories
such as improvement in bathing, dressing, managing medications,
hospital admission, etc.
Administrator Honored for Project Performance
The Thorne Group’s administrator, Cheryl Dott, was honored
for her excellence in completing an outcome-based quality
improvement project mandated by CMS (Centers for Medicare and
Medicaid Services). Cheryl was recognized in a special ceremony
by Quality Insights of Pennsylvania, the Medicare Quality
Improvement Organization for PA and the firm chosen by Medicare
to implement the project and monitor its results, for the way in
which she set up and executed a project designed to produce
improvement in breathing. Quality Insights commended the agency
on the “superior quality of care that you provide to your
patients.”
Agency Chosen to Participate in Special Study
In addition, because of Administrator Cheryl Dott’s
distinguished performance, The Thorne Group was hand-picked to
participate in a collaborative for a small group of home health
agencies in PA which will track improvement in the management of
oral medications. As Quality Insights wrote in a letter to our
agency, “In recognition of the excellent care that you provide
to your patients and your commitment to continuous quality
improvement, Quality Insights has selected your agency as one of
23 home health agencies across the state [out of hundreds] to
participate in this project.” The project is now underway.
Agency sponsors Alzheimers’ Walk
The Thorne Group was once again a silver level sponsor of the Alzheimers’ Memory Walk which took place in September. Once again this year our Geriatric Care Manager, Mindy Shaw, chaired the local Alzheimers’ Walk. We always see Mindy’s commitment and dedication to geriatric issues – leadership of this event is a good example!
Agency Owner Earns Honors
The Thorne Group’s President/CEO, Rebecca Thorne, was recently named one of Pennsylvania’s 2005 Best 50 Women in Business for professional achievement and community involvement and for “bringing new and innovative ideas and techniques to businesses that are shaping the economic future of our state”. She was honored in a ceremony in Harrisburg.
Ms. Thorne was also a finalist for 2006 Entrepreneur of the Year for “demonstrating the entrepreneurial spirit of ingenuity, fortitude and perseverance.” In addition, she was named one of the Top 100 People in the Region for both 2005 and 2006.
In addition, Ms. Thorne recently received the 2007 Woman of
Distinction Award from the Keystone Tall Tree Girl Scout
Council. The award honors women who are recognized as role
models for young women. She was specifically recognized
for her philanthropy, promotion of the community, and
entrepreneurial spirit.
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