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Bronze-Level Award Honors Long Term Care Organizations

FLAGSTAFF, Ariz. (Sept. 12, 2011) — The Peaks has been recognized as a 2011 recipient of the Bronze – Commitment to Quality National Quality Award for its outstanding performance in the health care profession. The award, presented by the American Health Care Association and National Center for Assisted Living (AHCA/NCAL), highlights facilities across the nation that have demonstrated their intention to pursue a rigorous quality improvement system.

“This award signifies a great commitment to quality care and an important step in raising the standards of sustainable, person-centered care and services,” says Governor Mark Parkinson, President and CEO of AHCA/NCAL. “We congratulate The Peaks on this achievement.”

Implemented by AHCA/NCAL in 1996, the National Quality Award Program is centered 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. Facilities begin the quality improvement process at the Bronze level, where they develop an organizational profile with essential performance elements such as vision and mission statements and an assessment of customers’ expectations. Bronze applicants must demonstrate their ability to implement a performance improvement system. A team of trained Examiners reviews each Bronze application to determine if the facility has met the demands of the criteria. As a recipient of the Bronze – Commitment to Quality award, The Peaks may now move forward in developing approaches and achieving performance levels that meet the criteria required for the Silver – Achievement in Quality award.

“The recipients of the quality awards exemplify the energy and dedication required to advance quality care to the next level,” says John Stepahin, Chair, AHCA/NCAL National Quality Award Board of Overseers. “Improving quality care is an evolutionary cycle, and these facilities are the forerunners of the movement.”

The awards are sponsored by AHCA/NCAL Associate Business Member My InnerView, a Web-based applied research and quality-management company that supports leaders across the entire assisted living, senior housing and skilled nursing profession with tools to measure, benchmark and improve performance. The Peaks was one of five Arizona facilities to receive the Bronze level award. The award will be presented to The Peaks during AHCA/NCAL’s 62^nd Annual Convention and Exposition, September 18-21, 2011 in Las Vegas, Nev.

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