Safety net skilled nursing facility wins national recognition

Oct. 19, 2017 10:50 AM PT

Santee’s Edgemoor skilled nursing facility is among three long-term care centers nationwide to earn the American Health Care Association’s top award.

The organization recently announced that the facility on Park Center Drive has received its 2017 Gold National Quality Award which “recognizes organizations nationally that serve as models of excellence in providing high-quality care.”

Run by the county Health and Human Services Agency, the 192-bed facility provides 24-hour nursing care and rehabilitation services to patients whose conditions are severe or complex enough that they cannot be served by other skilled nursing facilities in the region. The majority of Edgemoor’s patients are covered by Medi-Cal, the state’s insurance program for poor and disabled residents.

County supervisor Dianne Jacob applauded the achievement in an email sent Thursday.

“It’s great to see Edgemoor get the national recognition it deserves,” Jacob said. “The award also validates the county’s efforts to help adults with complex health issues get the long-term care they need. It’s a special place that operates with a lot of heart.”

The health care association’s quality-award program, which also involves the National Center for Assisted Living, follows the Baldrige Performance Excellence Program, a rubric that sets a series of specific performance goals on every aspect of operation from leadership and management innovation to ethics and societal responsibility.

In order to reach the gold level, organizations must already have proven that they meet lower “bronze” and “silver” performance levels. Reaching gold usually takes many years of work.

“Gold award recipients have invested a significant amount of time into upholding the challenging Baldrige Criteria standards and achieving performance excellence,” said Alana Wolfe, chair of the National Quality Award’s board of overseers in a statement.

Counting the latest additions, only 34 facilities nationwide have reached the highest award since the program’s inception in 1996. Edgemoor is just the third skilled nursing facility in the state to receive the honor. Pacific Coast Manor in Capitola earned gold status in 2015; Stonebrook Healthcare Center in Concord turned golden in 2014.

The other two facilities to achieve gold status this year are the Inova Loudoun Nursing and Rehabilitation Center in Leesburg, Va., and the Alverno Health Care Facility in Clinton, Iowa.

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