FirstHealth Home Care has been named a national best practice agency by Fazzi Associates, a national benchmarking service.

The recognition establishes the organization as a proven leader in patient satisfaction – one of the most important measures of an agency’s quality program.

“I’m not surprised. I’ve used other home care agencies in the past, so I know that FirstHealth is the best," said Edna Hammonds of Laurinburg. "It’s hard to describe the wonderful care and concern the staff at FirstHealth Home Care has shown me. They’re good people.”

The Patient Satisfaction Award of Distinction goes to home health organizations that demonstrated superior performance in patient satisfaction in the year 2009. The achievement places FirstHealth Home Care in the top 25 percent of Fazzi’s national patient satisfaction database.

FirstHealth offers Home Care services to patients in Scotland, Moore, Richmond, Lee, Montgomery and Hoke counties.

“FirstHealth Home Care professionals touch the lives of the people we care for and they, in turn, touch ours,” says Patty Upham, R.N., director of FirstHealth Home Care Services. “Our patients welcome us into their homes as we help them regain their health. I’m very proud of the staff at First Health for receiving the Patient Satisfaction Award. They are special, compassionate and hard-working people, and it’s rewarding to know our patients share this view.”

FirstHealth Home Care consistently ranks highly in Medicare’s publicly reported quality measures, surpassing numerous state and national standards.

In addition, a recently awarded government grant allows FirstHealth Home Care to provide TeleHealth home monitoring equipment at no charge to its patients, improving health outcomes even more.

Fazzi’s National Patient Satisfaction service is one of home care’s oldest, largest and most respected patient satisfaction benchmarking systems in the country.

“This level of success is commendable and deserving of recognition,” says Gina L. Mazza, R.N., Total Performance director for Fazzi Associates, of the patient satisfaction recognition. “This is a significant accomplishment to be incredibly proud of.”