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Home arrow News arrow Press Releases arrow AMDA Foundation Announces 2011 Foundation/Evercare® Awards
AMDA Foundation Announces 2011 Foundation/Evercare® Awards PDF Print E-mail
Facilities Awarded for Improving Members’ Quality of Life
For Immediate Release, March 31, 2011

CONTACTS: This e-mail address is being protected from spam bots, you need JavaScript enabled to view it , AMDA Foundation, 410-992-3134 or This e-mail address is being protected from spam bots, you need JavaScript enabled to view it , MD, CMD, Evercare, 952-936-6856

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March 31, 2011
Columbia, MD — The American Medical Directors Association (AMDA) Foundation and UnitedHealth Group (NYSE: UNH) announced the winners of the 2011 AMDA Foundation/Evercare® Award for Improving the Quality of Life for Persons Living in Nursing Homes. The awards, presented at Long Term Care Medicine-2011, AMDA’s annual symposium held in Tampa, Fla., last month, recognize nursing homes that develop programs to bring innovative ideas and efforts to maximize quality long-term care.

The 2011 AMDA Foundation/Evercare® Award winners are:

  • The Pines - Genesis HealthCare, Easton, Md., for the development of BID Medication Pass. The project aimed at streamlining a team approach to the medication pass in a way that promotes patient-centered care and enhances resident and employee satisfaction. The goal is to individualize each patient’s drug regimen, eliminate unnecessary and non-therapeutic drugs, and establish two medication delivery times daily.
  • Holy Trinity Nursing & Rehabilitation Center, Worcester, Mass., for its Resident Centered Dining Program. This project was designed to create a dining system to mirror a home-like environment where all residents have greater control over their meals. It includes facility-wide buffet style dining, personalized special meals for resident birthdays, the use of MealTracker (a dietary software program), and efforts to bring the main dining room experience to all residents—regardless of diet or medical status.
  • Lac qui Parle Health Network, Madison, Minn., for its Pain Management Program. This project was designed to improve resident comfort as measured on the Minnesota Quality Indicator Report for moderate-severe pain by 10% per year or 20% of two years and quality of life through the collaborative development and implementation of improve pain management techniques.

“In addition to being a tremendous honor to be nationally recognized, this award validates the importance of this project for each and every staff member, as it has required an enormous amount of hard work, dedication, and teamwork to implement,” said Dianne Buckley, Director of Dietary Services at Holy Trinity Nursing & Rehab Center. She added, “For those of us in long term care whose daily routine becomes ‘normal,’ it reaffirms the magnitude of the project’s importance by being able to practice resident-centered care every day.”

In presenting these awards, Ronald Shumacher, MD, CMD, Chief Medical Officer at Evercare said, “We are pleased to partner with AMDA again for this award. In 2007, Dr. Roy V. Erickson first worked with AMDA to conceive these awards. Tragically, he passed away last year. But he would be proud today because he was very passionate about these awards.” Daniel Swagerty, MD, MPH, CMD, AMDA Foundation Chair, said “We are excited to see so many high quality submissions for this award and congratulate the winners for their innovative projects.”

A panel of judges with expertise in the senior care market, and independently appointed by the AMDA Foundation, selected the award-winning facilities from nominations throughout the country. Among other guidelines, winning facilities developed and implemented programs which measurably improved the quality of life within their nursing homes. The programs must be both sustainable and able to be replicated in other facilities. Each recipient will receive $10,000.

About The American Medical Directors Association Foundation:

The AMDA Foundation, an independent not-for-profit organization, serves as the research arm of AMDA. The Foundation's mission is: “The AMDA Foundation advances the quality of life for persons in long term care (LTC) through inspiring and educating future and current health care professionals." The Foundation also advances high quality, innovative practice along the long term care continuum. Visit the AMDA Foundation at www.amdafoundation.org.

About UnitedHealth Group:

UnitedHealth Group (www.unitedhealthgroup.com) is a diversified health and well-being company dedicated to making health care work better. Headquartered in Minneapolis, Minn., UnitedHealth Group offers a broad spectrum of products and services through six operating businesses: UnitedHealthcare, Ovations, AmeriChoice, OptumHealth, Ingenix, and Prescription Solutions. Through its family of businesses, UnitedHealth Group serves more than 70 million individuals nationwide.

About Evercare:

Evercare, a unit of Ovations, a business UnitedHealth Group, is one of the largest care coordination programs for individuals living with disabilities, long-term or advanced illness. Founded in 1987, Evercare serves more than 300,000 people nationwide through its health plans, hospice care and caregiver support.

Visit AMDA Foundation/Evercare® Award Recipients to download presentations by winners and see previous winners.

 
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