06/26/2008 - IPRO Honors 15 Health Professionals and Organizations for Quality Improvement Efforts

Contact:

Rebecca Janoff/Dennis Tartaglia

212/481-7000

Spencer Vibbert/Barbara Schwartz

516/326-7767

(Lake Success, NY, June 26, 2008) - Fifteen health care practitioners and providers from across New York State are the recipients of this year's IPRO Quality Awards. The awards are given annually by IPRO to members of New York's health care community that have demonstrated outstanding performance in the area of quality improvement. This year's awards were conferred during IPRO's 24th Annual Meeting, which also featured a keynote address by Jo Ivey Boufford, MD, President, New York Academy of Medicine. Based in Lake Success and Albany, New York, IPRO is a national leader in health care quality measurement and improvement.

"We're proud to recognize this group of hospitals, nursing homes, home health agencies, physician offices and health care professionals for their efforts in quality improvement," said Theodore O. Will, Chief Executive Officer, IPRO. "Each has shown an outstanding commitment to the health of New Yorkers."

Awardees were acknowledged for quality improvement in one or more areas, including: organization-wide commitment to quality improvement, performance improvement and patient safety; sharing of best practices; reducing unnecessary hospitalizations and use of restraints; adoption of electronic health records and bar coding; improving care for patients with diabetes; decreasing use of anticholinergic drugs in the elderly; reducing unnecessary acute care hospitalizations; and pain management. (NOTE: Photos are available. See contact information above. For complete information on the awards and photos of the awards ceremony, please see http://company.ipro.org/index/quality-awards.)

Awardees include:

Glen Cove Hospital, Glen Cove, New York
UHS/Delaware Valley Hospital, Walton, New York
Long Island Jewish Medical Center, New Hyde Park, New York
Ellis Hospital, Schenectady, New York
HCR Home Health Agency, Rochester, New York
Twin Tier Home Health Agency, Inc., Vestal, New York
Jose S. Leon, Jr., MD, Medical Director, Dolan Family Health Center, Huntington Hospital, Greenlawn, New York
Nathaniel Brownlow, MD, New York, New York
River Valley Family Medical Services, Barryville, New York
HIP Health Plan of New York, New York,
Independent Health, Buffalo, New York
Catskill Regional Medical Center, Harris, New York
Clove Lakes Health Care and Rehabilitation Center, Inc., Staten Island, New York
Sea View Hospital Rehabilitation Center and Home, Staten Island, New York
Woodmere Rehabilitation and Health Care Center, Inc., Woodmere, New York

With more than 20 years of experience in health care quality improvement and evaluation, IPRO holds major contracts with state and federal governments, as well as private-sector clients, to review the cost and quality of services provided to Medicaid recipients, Medicare beneficiaries, and patients enrolled in managed care organizations and to work with the health care community to improve those services. IPRO also manages the End Stage Renal Disease Network for New York.