VNA Nazareth Home Care, a service of Jewish Hospital & St. Mary’s HealthCare in Louisville, KY, has been named a 2006 HomeCare Elite provider by OCS Inc. in Seattle
HomeCare Elite is an inaugural compilation of the most successful home care providers measured by quality, improvement and financial performance.

“We applaud the success of all the providers named to the 2006 HomeCare Elite,” said Bill Bassett, senior director of market strategy at OCS. “Being noted as one of the top performers in the nation in this very competitive environment shows that VNA Nazareth Home Care is dedicated to quality and performance.”

At Leading Home Care, we are particulary proud of this accomplishment at VNA. As many of you know, I was on the Board of Directors of the VNA of Louisville when was merged with Jewish Hospital. Later, in 1999 and 2000, I served as interim President & CEO of the VNA during the very difficult and challenging times of IPS.

This award demonstrates that a troubled agency can in fact turn itself around and become a national leader in quality and performance …an AOTF — Agency Of The Future.

I give the credit to Gerri Leppert, the new CEO of VNA. When I was the interim CEO, Gerri was Director of Home Health. She has been with the agency many years and has demonstrated the process of growing from a new front line home health nurse into a successful and significant home health leader and company CEO.

Congratulations, Gerri, to you and your team on an amazing accomplishment, and best wishes, for continued success.

Stephen