Visiting Nurse Association Home Health and Hospice Achieve ACHC Re-Accreditation

St. Luke’s Visiting Nurse Association is pleased to announce that its home health and hospice services have been re-accredited through the Accreditation Commission for Health Care (ACHC).

Re-accreditation is a process through which healthcare organizations demonstrate compliance with national standards. ACHC is an organization that surveys Medicare certified organizations to determine if they comply with regulations and standards of the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services.

Accreditation by ACHC reflects an organization’s dedication and commitment to meeting standards that facilitate a higher level of performance and patient care. ACHC surveyors are registered nurses with experience working in the home health and hospice field.

Lisa Giovanni, MSN, RN, president of St. Luke’s Visiting Nurse Association, said the surveyors spend about a week on site and review policies, procedures and patients’ records, talk with staff and leaders, and accompany staff on home visits. At the end of the survey, the surveyors share their observations and offer suggestions for improvement.

“The surveyors always highlight what a wonderful culture we have here at St. Luke’s,” Giovanni said. “They compliment our staff for being incredibly dedicated and professional in the way that they care for patients both in their homes and in our Hospice House. The surveyors also remark about how knowledgeable our staff is about the patient’s situation and their plan of care, how well they work together and how that contributes positively to a good outcome for our patients and their families.”

Working with your primary care physician, St. Luke’s Home Health provides medically necessary, intermittent home visits for patients recovering from an injury or surgery or managing an illness. Services provided are:

• Nursing
• Physical therapy
• Occupational therapy
• Speech therapy
• Home health aide services
• Medical social work

St. Luke’s Hospice provides medically necessary care in the home for patients with a limited life expectancy. The hospice team includes physicians, certified nurse practitioners, nurses, hospice aides, volunteers, social workers and chaplains. Hospice focuses on pain management and symptom control, as well as emotional, social and spiritual care for both the patient and the family. Registered nurses provide hospice patients acute care services for symptom management at the St. Luke’s Hospice House, located in Lower Saucon Township,

“The St. Luke’s Hospice House is more of an intensive care unit for symptom management,” Giovanni said. “A patient might go there if they need management of pain or other severe symptoms that are unable to be managed in any other setting and require a nurse 24/7.”

After the patient passes, hospice bereavement services continue for a year to help families and loved ones deal with grief and sorrow.

For more information, contact St. Luke’s Visiting Nurse Association at 484-526-1100 or toll-free at 1-800-211-4788 or visit/sluhn.org/vna.