Commitment to Trusted Care
Long before nursing and caregiving became a profession, the earliest healers and caregivers, both men and women, learned the vocation through oral teachings and traditions passed down from generation to generation. Those known to have these medicinal skills were highly trusted.
The founder of VNA Health was Marian Watts, a visiting nurse, who graduated from Johns Hopkins Hospital School of Nursing. In the early 20th century, nurses were identified by their nursing pin, which represented a badge of trusted care. Nurses embraced this trust and responsibility so deeply, that when they died, they instructed their families to send their pin back to their School of Nursing to ensure no one could take it and pretend to be a nurse.
Today, the certification and validation of healthcare organizations are managed by independent federal, state, and local agencies.
The Joint Commission
VNA Health has earned The Joint Commission’s Gold Seal of Approval® in Home Health Care, Palliative Care, and Hospice Care, and continues to be a leading member of many professional organizations.
The Joint Commission Gold Seal of Approval® is a nationally recognized distinction voluntarily earned by a select set of healthcare providers. An organization that achieves The Gold Seal of Approval® shows its commitment to holding itself accountable to a high bar for quality and safety for those they serve. The Joint Commission is the nation’s leading and most widely recognized healthcare performance improvement organization with a vision that all people always experience the safest, highest quality, best-value health care across all settings.
CMS Patient Satisfaction
VNA Health has an overall 4-Star Rating for Patient Satisfaction by the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS). Achieving a 4-star rating ranks VNA Health as above average in comparison to home health agencies nationwide.
The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) has built the Care Compare website at Medicare.gov as a key tool to help consumers choose a home health care provider. To make the information easier to use, Care Compare provides tools like “star ratings” that summarize some of the current health care provider performance measures.
Candid’s Guidestar
VNA Health received the Candid GuideStar Platinum Seal of Transparency. Candid’s Guidestar Platinum Seal is awarded to charities demonstrating the highest level of responsible fiscal management and commitment to accountability and transparency. At VNA Health transparency and sustainability build excellence, which helps ensure that our services can be provided compassionately, and with integrity.
We Honor Veterans
VNA Health is honored to be a 4-Star Level Member of We Honor Veterans. Launched in September 2010, We Honor Veterans is an awareness campaign developed by the National Hospice & Palliative Care Organization in collaboration with the Department of Veterans Affairs. We Honor Veterans was created to address the growing need for Veteran-centered care, especially as the need for hospice and palliative care by the aging Veteran population increases.
We Honor Veterans invites participating hospice organizations to aspire to the utmost quality of integrated service from the hospice team by setting requirements to “earn your stars.” To earn a 4-star rating, the highest level, the organization must ensure that all staff is regularly educated about the unique needs of Veteran patients and their families, participate in community outreach and networking, and continually assess program improvements.
National Partnership For Healthcare and Hospice Innovation
VNA Health is proud to be a member of the National Partnership for Healthcare and Hospice Innovation. NPHI is a member-comprised organization driven by passion and integrity to help people live fully through the end-of-life. Our most important priorities, policies and initiatives are learned at the bedside, not in the board room. Our members are community-focused hospice, palliative care, and advanced illness providers across the country focused on the highest quality, person and family-centered, end-of-life care.
Best Places to Work & Champion in Healthcare
The Pacific Coast Business Times (PCBT) once again recognizes VNA Health as a Best Place to Work along the Central Coast. VNA Health has been recognized as a Best Place to Work since 2017.
In addition, PCBT has recognized VNA Health leaders as Champions in Healthcare in 2015, 2017, 2018, 2020, 2021 and 2023.