Intel: HealthInsight lauds home health agencies
Five Nevada home health agencies have been selected as quality award recipients for their commitment to improving and promoting patient-centered care.
HealthInsight, a private, nonprofit, community-based organization dedicated to improving health and health care in Nevada, New Mexico and Utah, presented the 2014 HealthInsight Quality Award to five home health agencies from across the state on Oct. 30.
The 2014 HealthInsight Quality Award recipients were Advanced Home Health, Advent Home Health, At Home Health Services, Mother’s Care Home Health Services Inc. and Reliance Health Care LLC.
“We are pleased to recognize these outstanding home health agencies that are working to improve health care quality and patient care for the residents of Nevada,” HealthInsight CEO Marc Bennett said.
HealthInsight Quality Award home health recipients were honored for completing a quality improvement project aimed at improving patient-centered care, and for demonstrating high-quality health care and excellence in performance on publicly reported quality of care measures and other specified quality markers. These measures come from data voluntarily reported by home health agencies nationwide.
The national home health rankings used to select recipients are at www.healthinsight.org.
The HealthInsight Quality Award Program launched in September 2004 to promote transparency in health care. By using available data to identify high-performing providers and publicizing the results, HealthInsight aims to help providers improve health care and help patients become more active and informed participants in that care.
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Economic forecast Dec. 8
The Center for Business and Economic Research of the Lee Business School at the University of Nevada, Las Vegas will host its annual Economic Outlook Conference from 8 a.m. to 10:30 a.m. Dec. 8 at M Resort, 12300 Las Vegas Blvd. South.
The conference will feature Stephen Brown, the center’s director and an economics professor at UNLV, who will present the center’s economic outlook for the United States, and economic analyst Ryan Kennelly, who will give the center’s economic outlook for Nevada and Southern Nevada, Esmael Adibi, director of the A. Gary Anderson Center for Economic Research and Anderson Chair of Economic Analysis at Chapman University, will give his economic outlook for California and Dennis Hoffman, director of the L. William Seidman Research Institute at Arizona State University, will give his economic outlook for the Western states.
Registration is available at http://cber.unlv.edu/outlook.html.
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Pot test lab approved
Steep Hill Labs Inc., a cannabis testing and analytics company, said Nov. 4 that its licensee M.A. &Associates LLC has been awarded one of the first licenses issued in Nevada to test and analyze cannabis.
M.A. &Associates, which will conduct business as Steep Hill Nevada, selected the testing technology and protocols of Steep Hill Labs in applying for the license.
“We are excited that our Nevada licensee M.A. &Associates was chosen by the state of Nevada as a safe, verified and licensed testing facility,” Steep Hill’s co-founder and CEO David Lampach said. “We believe our testing technology gave them a clear and competitive advantage in Nevada, and we are looking forward to working with our new partners to bring our industry-leading services to the patients in the state.”
Steep Hill Labs Inc. has laboratories in California, Colorado, Washington, and Nevada, either wholly owned by the company or operated through licensed locations.
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WestCare Nevada expands
Responding to recommendations from Gov. Brian Sandoval’s Behavioral Health and Wellness Council, WestCare Nevada has expanded its Southern Nevada Community Triage Center to house more patients who need mental health and substance abuse care. The center began taking additional patients Nov. 1.
The Community Triage Center, 930 N. Fourth St., was allotted $766,000 to expand bed capacity from 36 to 50 with the cost shared equally by the state, local hospitals and local jurisdictions. The additional beds will let more mental health services patients go directly to the triage center and bypass the backlog in emergency rooms. The Community Triage Center also receives patients from admissions by law enforcement and walk-ins.
“With our increased patient capacity, we are able to provide more treatment to people with substance abuse and co-occurring disorders,” WestCare Nevada Regional Vice President Kevin Morss said. “The expansion would not have been possible without the support of the state, hospitals and our local jurisdictions.”
For more information on WestCare Nevada’s Community Triage Center and its services, visit www.westcare.com.
