Oceanside CA— Tri-City Home Care, Tri-City Medical Center’s home health care service, has received a 5-Star Rating, the highest quality rating available, from the Centers for Medicaid and Medicare Services (CMS). The 5-Star Rating indicates Tri-City Home Care’s quality of patient care is well above the national average for home health agencies. CMS published the ratings on its Home Health Compare website effective April 1.
This is Tri-City Home Care’s first prestigious 5-Star Rating in the CMS Quality of Patient Care Star Ratings report. CMS determines its ratings using nine measures of quality from timely start of care to acute care hospitalization. Consumers can learn more about the ratings and view them at www.medicare.gov/homehealthcompare.
“The Tri-City Home Care team is focused on delivering quality patient care every day and for every patient. Achieving this rating is a credit to everyone on our home care services team and should give our patients in the community confidence and comfort too,” said Chief Nursing Executive Sharon Schultz. “Quality of care for patients in their homes is just as important as in the hospital. When done well, home care helps reduce costs by reducing hospitalizations and improves patient satisfaction by keeping patients close to their loved ones and comfortable in their own homes.”
Tri-City Home Care extends the physician’s medical management into the home to enhance patient quality of care.  The home health team delivers superior skilled medical care and holistic, supportive care services to patients with a wide variety of acute and chronic health conditions. Whether recovering from surgery, an acute episode of illness, change in health condition or management of a chronic disease, the home health team of skilled nurses and therapists coordinates care among the entire care delivery team and develops an individualized care plan to ensure patients are making progress in achieving their goals.
The Tri-City Home Care team includes registered nurses, licensed vocational nurses, physical therapists, occupational therapists, speech therapists, social workers, dietitians, certified home health aides and diabetic educators. Therapists provide rehabilitative care for a broad range of patient needs that may include joint replacement and spine surgery after-care; they provide restorative care and education to address mobility, strength and safety for efficient recovery and independence in daily activities.  Nurses specialize in intravenous (IV) therapy, complex wound care, ostomy care, and medication management.  The home health team focuses on education in self-management to maximize health, wellness and quality of life for the patients and community they serve.
The CMS Quality of Patient Care Star Ratings reflect how home health agencies’ scores compare with one another on measurements of their quality of patient care performance. Across the country, most agencies fall in the middle with 3 stars — delivering good quality of care. A Star Rating higher than 3 indicates better than average performance on the measured care practices and outcomes, while a Star Rating below 3 means below average performance.
CMS calculated Tri-City Home Care’s 5-star rating based on Medicare fee-for-service claims data from the period of July 1, 2015 through June 30, 2016 and end-of-care OASIS assessment dates from Oct. 1, 2015 to Sept. 30, 2016.

About Tri-City Medical Center

Tri-City Medical Center has served its community for over 50 years and is a 388-bed full service, acute-care hospital in Oceanside, Calif. with a primary care clinic and over 700 physicians practicing in 60 specialties. Its Gold Seal of Approval® from the Joint Commission recognizes its commitment to safe and effective patient care for the residents of the community it serves. It operates the only Level III Neonatal Intensive Care Unit (NICU) in North County as well as an Orthopedic & Spine Institute, a Cardiovascular Health Institute and a Neuroscience Institute along with the Tri-City Wellness Center in Carlsbad, Calif., recognized as one of the best wellness centers in San Diego County. It also specializes in women’s health, robotic surgery, cancer and emergency care. For more information about Tri-City Medical Center and Tri-City Healthcare District, please visit www.tricitymed.org.