Health and Fitness : Belle Plaine Specialty Care receives national Commitment to Quality Bronze Award

The American Health Care Association and National Center for Assisted Living (AHCA/NCAL) recently announced the recipients of the 2023 Bronze Commitment to Quality Award. Ten Iowa long-term care facilities were recognized by AHCA/NCAL with this award, which encompassed nearly 400 long-term and post-acute care providers in 47 states.

Ten Iowa long-term care facilities received this award, which included Benton County's Belle Plaine Specialty Care, in Belle Plaine.

The AHCA/NCAL National Quality Award Program honors long-term and post-acute care providers that have demonstrated their commitment to improving the quality of care for seniors and individuals with disabilities.

"This is a wonderful testament to the quality of care provided by Iowans to Iowans in long-term care facilities," said Brenda Irlbeck, vice president of quality improvement and regulatory affairs for Iowa Health Care Association. "The recipients of these awards have made it their mission to deliver quality care for our state's elderly and individuals with disabilities."

This national award program has three levels: Bronze, Silver and Gold. Providers begin the quality improvement process at the Bronze level, where they assess their organization's mission, vision and key factors that lead to success. They also develop an organizational profile and must demonstrate their ability to implement a performance improvement system. Trained examiners review each application to determine if the facility has met the demands of the criteria. Bronze recipients may move forward in developing approaches and achieving performance levels that meet the criteria required for the AHCA/NCAL Silver - Achievement in Quality Award.

The program is based on the core values and criteria of the Baldrige Performance Excellence Program, which also serves as the foundation for the metric-based AHCA/NCAL Quality Initiative. The Baldrige framework helps organizations among different business sectors improve organizational effectiveness and achieve strategy- driven performance.

Winners of the 2023 Silver - Achievement in Quality and Gold - Excellence in Quality Award will be announced in the coming months.

About Iowa Health Care Association
Iowa Health Care Association (IHCA) and its divisions, Iowa Center for Assisted Living (ICAL) and Iowa Center for Home Care (ICHC) represent organizations that provide long-term care to Iowans through nursing facilities, assisted living, residential care, senior living communities and home health agencies.