October 5, 2011

LAFAYETTE, La. – Nearly 40 percent of LHC Group’s home health providers are rated among the nation’s top home health agencies in a new ranking released this week.

Forty-nine LHC Group home health providers incorporating 89 agency locations have been ranked among the 2011 “HomeCare Elite,” an independent rating of home health quality and performance. The 2011 HomeCare Elite list, compiled annually by OCS HomeCare and DecisionHealth, names the top 25 percent of home health agencies in the United States.

In addition, three LHC Group providers were recognized among the nation’s Top 100 home health agencies, and eight were ranked among the Top 500 nationwide.

The 49 LHC Group providers honored on the 2011 HomeCare Elite list comprise 39 percent of the company’s home health providers. The number of LHC Group providers that have achieved HomeCare Elite status has steadily increased from year to year, climbing from 22 percent in 2009 and 34 percent in 2010.

Seventeen LHC Group providers have been honored as HomeCare Elite for three consecutive years.

“This recognition is proof positive of what our patients already know,” said Keith G. Myers, LHC Group’s chairman and CEO. “Every day, our healthcare professionals deliver high-quality, compassionate and efficient care to the thousands of men and women who welcome us into their homes and lives.

“I commend these 49 providers for leading the way – not only for our company but also for home health providers nationwide.”

LHC Group providers recognized among the Top 100 home health agencies are CHRISTUS HomeCare-St. Michael (formerly Texarkana HomeCare) in Texarkana, Texas; Feliciana Home Health East (formerly Stanocola Home Health) in Baton Rouge, La.; and Jeff Davis Home Health in Jennings, La.

Ranked among the Top 500 are LHC Group’s Central Arkansas HomeCare in Hot Springs, Ark.; Dallas County Medical Center HomeCare in Fordyce, Ark.; Delhi Home Care in Delhi, La.; Home Care Connections in Amarillo, Texas; Louisiana HomeCare of Slidell in Slidell, La.; Ochsner Home Health of Covington in Covington, La.; Red River HomeCare in Reno, Texas; and Roane HomeCare in Spencer, W. Va.

“Across the country, our LHC Group professionals are delivering outstanding care and achieving strong clinical outcomes to meet the needs of the frail, elderly patients we serve,” said Don Stelly, a registered nurse and the company’s president and COO. “Because of the commitment and dedication of our team members, we are well-positioned for continued growth and success in this era of regulatory changes and reimbursement cuts.

“Just as we have shown with our company’s industry-leading commitment to Joint Commission accreditation, LHC Group agencies are raising the bar in quality, efficiency and performance.”

The HomeCare Elite ranking, now in its sixth year, is a compilation of the most successful home care providers in the country. OCS HomeCare uses publicly available data from Home Health Compare and CMS cost reports to create the HomeCare Elite list.

Three domains of performance were cumulatively evaluated for the 2011 list — quality of care, process measure implementation and financial performance. The quality of care component indexes agency performance in each of the 10 publicly reported Home Health Compare measures released in July 2011. The process measure implementation index is based on agencies’ rates in the 13 process measures included in the July 2011 Home Health Compare release. The financial performance measure represents agency indexed profit margin from the 2010 CMS cost reports (or adjusted 2009 results when 2010 data was not available).

Agency performance in each of the three domains was compared against the performance of other organizations in their state and throughout the country. The three domains were combined into one overall score, using a weighting methodology that gives the greatest importance to quality of care.

The top 25 percent of agencies in each region were identified, followed by the Top 100 and Top 500 nationally recognized home health agencies. In total, 9,724 Medicare-certified home health agencies had sufficient data to be considered for the annual honor, and 2,434 agencies earned recognition as 2011 HomeCare Elite.

About LHC Group Inc.
LHC Group Inc. is one of the nation’s largest providers of home health and hospice services with 312 locations in 19 states.  The company provides a comprehensive array of post-acute healthcare services through home health, hospice and private duty locations in its home-based division and long-term acute care hospitals in its facility-based division.  LHC Group serves nearly 80,000 patients annually and is the only national home health provider pursuing 100 percent Joint Commission accreditation.