MJHS Ranks Above National Average Across All Categories On New CMS Hospice Compare Website

NEW YORK, Sept. 8, 2017 /PRNewswire/ -- MJHS, a leading hospice and palliative care program based in New York, has scored higher than the national average in every category of the new Hospice Compare ranking system, an online database recently launched by the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS).

Hospice Compare assesses the quality of care at hospice programs across the country. Similar to other recent CMS scoring initiatives for nursing homes, this system is designed to help patients, family members, caregivers and health care providers evaluate and compare hospice programs based on common metrics.

"We are pleased that CMS Hospice Compare data ranks our quality of care so highly," says Eleanor Canning, SVP of MJHS Hospice and Palliative Care. "As one of the original and largest not-for-profit hospice and palliative care programs in the Greater New York area, it is gratifying to have our high standards nationally recognized and validated. It has always been our mission to treat our patients with compassion, dignity and respect."

Notable MJHS statistics include:

• 96.1% of patients received timely and thorough pain assessment when pain was identified as a problem compared to the national average of 77.7%
• 99.1% of patients were checked for pain at the beginning of hospice care compared to the national average of 93.9%
• 99.8% of patients or caregivers were asked about their beliefs and values at the beginning of hospice care compared to the national average of 93.6%
• 100% of patients or caregivers were asked about treatment preferences like hospitalization and resuscitation at the beginning of hospice care compared to the national average of 93.6%

Hospice Compare includes data submitted by approximately 3,876 hospices collected between September 30, 2015 and September 29, 2016. Each agency electronically reported data to CMS by using the Hospice Item Set (HIS).

About MJHS Health System

One hundred and ten years ago, four courageous women in Brooklyn saw people in desperate need of care and loving kindness. Determined to do something, they made it their mission to change what they saw. Based on the core values of compassion, dignity and respect, and with the help of charitable support, these determined women provided poor, elderly members of the community with quality health care and a safe place to live. Although MJHS Health System has grown from caring for dozens of patients to thousands, the mission to provide the best care and comfort possible has never wavered. Since 1907, the organization has expanded from one small building among the tenements to one of the largest not-for-profit health systems in the region that provides home care, hospice and palliative care for adults and children, a center for rehabilitation and nursing care and the research-based MJHS Institute for Innovation in Palliative Care. It also includes Elderplan, which offers health plans for Medicare and Dual Eligible beneficiaries and its managed long- term care plan, HomeFirst, one of the original MLTC plans in New York. Many MJHS Health System programs and services are aided by grants from MJHS Foundation, which is supported by private and corporate donations. For more information, please visit www.mjhs.org.

Contact: Audrey Waters, (718) 759-4677, [email protected]

SOURCE MJHS Health System