Nine of Alabama’s skilled nursing care centers are being nationally recognized for their commitment to quality health care.

The Alabama Nursing Home Association members are part of 520 long-term and post-acute care centers across the country receiving the American Health Care Association’s 2017 Bronze – Commitment to Quality Award.

Alabama’s award recipients are:

• Birmingham Nursing & Rehab Center East, Birmingham
• Diversicare of Montgomery, Montgomery
• Florence Nursing & Rehab Center, Florence
• Marshall Manor Nursing & Rehab Center, Guntersville
• Mobile Nursing & Rehab Center, Mobile
• Montgomery Children’s Specialty Center, Montgomery
• NHC HealthCare Moulton, Moulton
• North Hill Nursing & Rehab Center, Birmingham
• South Hampton Nursing & Rehab, Owens Cross Roads

These centers join 61 other Alabama nursing homes that have earned the Bronze award since 1996.

The award is the first of three distinctions – Bronze, Silver and Gold – of the American Health Care Association’s (AHCA) National Quality Award Program. The program spotlights centers that have demonstrated their commitment to delivering quality care for senior citizens and persons with disabilities.

“Bronze award recipients advance our mission of improving lives by delivering solutions for quality care,” said Mark Parkinson, President and CEO of the AHCA. “We applaud their efforts to enrich the lives of those in the long term and post-acute care communities we serve.”

To earn the Bronze award, skilled nursing care centers develop an organizational profile with fundamental performance elements such as vision and mission statements and an assessment of customers’ expectations. Bronze applicants must also demonstrate their ability to implement a performance improvement system. Trained examiners review each Bronze application to determine if the center has met the demands of the criteria.

“We congratulate this year’s Bronze award recipients and look forward to offering continued support and guidance on their journey to improve quality care,” said AHCA National Quality Award Board of Overseers Chair Alana Wolfe. “The dedication and focus on quality that each organization has shown garners recognition. It will serve their patients and residents well.”

Implemented by the AHCA in 1996, the National Quality Award Program is centered on the core values and criteria of the Baldrige Performance Excellence Program, which is the foundation of the metric-based the AHCA Quality Initiative. The program assists providers of long-term and post-acute care services in achieving their performance excellence goals.

Recipients of the Bronze – Commitment to Quality Award may now move forward in developing approaches and achieving performance levels that meet the criteria required for the Silver – Achievement in Quality Award.

The awards will be presented during the AHCA’s 68th Annual Convention and Exposition in Las Vegas, Nevada, October 15-18, 2017.