Murrieta, CA May 2, 2018 — Out of 1,900 hospices surveyed nationwide by HEALTHCAREfirst, Hospice of the Valleys has been named the only hospice in California to receive the 2018 Hospice Honors Elite award. HEALTHCAREfirst is the leading provider of Web-based home health and hospice software, billing and coding services, CAHPS hospice surveys, and advanced analytics. Hospice Honors is a prestigious program that recognizes hospices providing the highest level of quality as measured from the caregiver’s point of view. “We are excited to recognize the 2018 Hospice Honors recipients for their hard work and dedication to providing exceptional care,” said J. Kevin Porter of HEALTHCAREfirst. “I congratulate Hospice of the Valleys on its success in achieving this highest of honors.”

Dr. Leslee Cochrane, Hospice of the Valleys Executive Medical Director, and Lynette Cvar, Chief Administrative Officer/CFO, credits “our incredibly dedicated and skilled employees and volunteers for treating each patient and their families as if they were their own family members. This is truly an incredible honor to receive since this award is based purely on the perspective of the families we have had the honor to serve.”

Award criteria were based on the Center of Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) post death family caregiver Hospice Consumer Assessment of Healthcare Providers and Systems (CAHPS) survey to systematically assess the patient and family experience with hospice care. Award recipients were identified by evaluating performance on a set of 24 quality indicator measures. Performance scores were aggregated from all completed surveys and were compared on a question-by-question basis to a National Performance Score calculated from the 1900+ partnering hospices contained in the HEALTHCAREfirst’s Hospice CAHPS database. HEALTHCAREfirst holds a special recognition, Hospice Honors Elite, to honor hospices scoring above the HEALTHCAREfirst National Performance Score on all 24 of the evaluated questions.