Pathways Named as a Top Agency of the 2015 HomeCare Elite

Sunnyvale, Calif.— Pathways today announced that it has been named a Top Agency of the 2015 HomeCare Elite^™, a recognition of the top-performing home health agencies in the United States. Now in its tenth year, the HomeCare Elite identifies the top 25 percent of Medicare-certified agencies and highlights the top 100 and top 500 agencies overall. Winners are ranked by an analysis of publicly available performance measures in quality outcomes, best practice (process measure) implementation, patient experience (Home Health CAHPS^®), quality improvement and consistency, and financial performance. To be considered, an agency must be Medicare-certified and have data for at least one outcome in Home Health Compare. Out of 9,718 agencies considered, 2,431 are elite.

The award is sponsored by OCS HomeCare by National Research Corporation, the leading provider of home health and hospice metrics and analytics, and DecisionHealth, publisher of the most respected independent publication in the home care profession, Home Health Line.

“The 2015 HomeCare Elite winners deserve credit for demonstrating high-quality care in their communities. As quality care initiatives become top-of-mind for healthcare providers, we recognize this as a remarkable achievement and are pleased to make this our 10th year of acknowledgement for top performing home health organizations,” said Christine Lang, VP of Product Development for OCS HomeCare. ““We congratulate Pathways on being one of the top home care agencies in the country.”

Pathways CEO Barbara Burgess credits staff responsiveness and compassion with the agency’s ability to achieve recognition as one of the HomeCare Elite. “At Pathways, we believe that patients and their families deserve responsive, compassionate care on their own terms,” said Burgess. “To accomplish this, we empower our staff and honor their unique talents and contributions to support care that is focused on our patients.”

“Happy 10th anniversary to the winners of the HomeCare Elite. As CMS ramps up its nationwide initiatives to reward home care agencies for the quality of care they provide, this is yet another way to acknowledge those agencies that have demonstrated their commitment to improving patient care at lower costs. The winners of the HomeCare Elite Award are proving that a heightened focus on clinical outcomes, patient experience, and financial management leads to success,” said Marci Heydt, Senior Content Manager, DecisionHealth.

The entire list of 2015 HomeCare Elite agencies can be downloaded by visiting the National Research Corporation website at http://www.ocshomecare.com/HomeCare-Elite.aspx.

About Pathways

Pathways, a Bay Area not-for-profit, has been a pioneer in home health, hospice, and palliative care since 1977. With offices in Sunnyvale, South San Francisco, and Oakland, Pathways serves more than 5,000 families annually in five Bay Area counties. Pathways cares for patients wherever they live—at home, in nursing homes, hospitals and assisted living communities.

Affiliated with El Camino Hospital and Sequoia Hospital since 1986, Pathways is accredited by The ACHC and is a member of the Visiting Nurses Association of America, California Hospice & Palliative Care Association, and the National Hospice & Palliative Care Organization. Pathways was a 2015 recipient of the Pilot Pioneer Award by Aging2.0, a worldwide “start-up accelerator” with a mission to fast-track innovations for improving the lives of older people, at their Global Innovation Summit. This is the fourth straight year that Pathways has been a HomeCare Elite award winner for top home health agencies.

For more information about Pathways call 888-755-7855 or visit www.pathwayshealth.org.

About National Research Corporation

For more than 30 years, National Research Corporation (NASDAQ: NRCIA and NRCIB) has been at the forefront of patient-centered care. Today, the company’s focus on empowering customer-centric healthcare across the continuum extends patient-centered care to incorporate families, communities, employees, senior housing residents, and other stakeholders.

National Research is dedicated to representing the true voice of patients and other healthcare stakeholders. This integration of cross-continuum metrics and analytics uncovers insights for effective performance improvement, quality measurement, care transitions, and many other factors that impact population health management.

For more information about HomeCare Elite, call 888-325-3396, write to HomeCareElite@ocsys.com or visit www.ocshomecare.com/HomeCare-Elite.

About DecisionHealth^®

For more than 25 years, DecisionHealth has served as the home care industry’s leading source for analysis and tools to improve revenue cycle performance, profitability and regulatory compliance. Agencies nationwide turn to DecisionHealth for education and training, coding and billing solutions, and ongoing expert guidance through its family of online products, print solutions, and live training events. DecisionHealth also certifies home health agency professionals in ICD-10 coding and OASIS-C1 through its Board of Medical Specialty Coding & Compliance, and provides custom consulting services to agency leaders through its DecisionHealth Professional Services unit. For product information, call 1-855-CALL-DH1 or visit www.decisionhealth.com.