Nationally Recognized Home Health Care—a Three-Peat

Updated on May 18, 2011

By John Chamberlin

Winning an award for excellence can be difficult in any industry.  Winning the same award, three years in a row in the increasingly competitive environment of home health care service is remarkable.  Just ask Anova Home Health Care Services staff and President, Nainesh Desai.  Anova received the HomeCare EliteTM Award for 2008, 2009 and, most recently, for 2010.

The HomeCare EliteTM Award is a compilation of the most successful home health care providers in the United States.  This market-leading review, performed by OCS HomeCare,  names the top 25 percent of agencies considering three factors: quality of care, quality improvement and financial performance.The 2010 HomeCare Elite is the only performance recognition of its kind in the home health industry.  This is the fifth anniversary of the award.

Amanda Twiss, CEO of OCS HomeCare, congratulated Anova and all of the winners on being the top home care agencies in the country. In addition, she saluted all forward-thinking providers, like Anova Home Health Care Services.  Marci Heydt, executive editor of DecisionHealth’s Home Health Line, added “On the fifth anniversary of HomeCare Elite, DecisionHealth would like to congratulate all of the winners who have achieved excellent clinical and financial outcomes, especially during times of such drastic regulatory changes.”

Anova started its operation in 2004, 4 years after President and former management consultant, Nainesh Desai’s mother died from cancer.  During his mother’s illness, Mr. Desai saw that there was a need to care for patients needing homecare and hospice and became increasingly passionate about it as he investigated starting his business.  He identified the need for locally owned, compassionate world-class home health care services and opened Anova.  The company’s services now include three business lines: skilled home healthcare, home hospice care and in-home non-skilled care.   One-hundred and sixty employees care for patients over a 7 county area of Western Pennsylvania.

So how has Anova been able to capture the company president’s passion for compassionate care and transfer it, consistently, to every employee?   Mr. Desai believes treating the staff as compassionately and respectfully as the staff is expected to care for their patients is part of the strategy.  The staff are constantly reminded of the company’s 4 core values: compassion, integrity, teamwork and excellence.

As posted on Anovas’ values document, “Our values inspire us and add meaning to our daily activities. They explain what we will stand for, what culture we will share and what will guide our decisions – all are needed to provide stability to the company.

Maintaining a consistently caring staff is only one part of the equation to Anova’s success and winning the HomeCare EliteTM Award. Another key component to being eligible for the award is the company’s fiscal performance .  The ability to provide world-class patient care within the environment of increased costs and regulations can be challenging as most health care administrators realize.

Mr. Desai also discussed Anova’s approach to health care.  Anova’s objectives are to meet customers’ (patient, physicians, facilities, hospitals, employees, medicare and other payors) requirements, and to continuously look for opportunities to reengineer their business processes and create conditions for long-term success.

Anova uses a three prong approach to meet these objectives:

  1. Reduce or Eliminate Non-Value Added Activities
  2. Continuously Redesign Core Processes
  3. Build Internal Capabilities

Reducing or eliminating non-valued added activities includes constantly reviewing ways to reduce costs, continuously improve the quality of care and constantly looking for ways to improve organizational efficiently while maintaining a very high level of care.

In reviewing objective number two, Mr. Desai says Anova is continuously looking to decrease cycle time, increase the company’s flexibility and improve the patient’s and customer’s satisfaction all while including patient outcomes.

Finally, defining “Build Internal Capabilities” means, to the Anova staff, constantly working to sustain Home Care Elite status, assuring excellent employee morale and sustaining their competitive edge within such a competitive market space.

Certainly winning this award for a third time is a proud moment; however, Mr. Desai knows that Anova cannot rest on its success.  As he says, “The continuous improvement journey is never ending.  The farther you go on this journey, the greener the scenery becomes.”

For more information on service lines, careers and general information regard Anova Health System, go to www.Anovahomehealth.com.

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