Each year, the American Health Care Association (AHCA)/National Center for Assisted Living (NCAL) National Quality Award Program sets out to answer a critical question: which senior care organizations are truly excelling in operational efficiency and patient/resident support?
The process is rigorous, the standards are high, and the Gold – Excellence in Quality Award—the program’s highest honor—is reserved for communities and facilities that have demonstrated sustained, measurable success in leadership, strategic planning, and patient/resident and staff satisfaction.
This year, only three skilled nursing facilities—all of which are Curana Health partners—received that prestigious distinction.
As their healthcare partner, we’re thrilled to celebrate Nottingham Health and Rehab in Olathe, Kansas; Garden Park Nursing & Rehabilitation Center in Shreveport, Louisiana; and NHC HealthCare Maryland Heights in Maryland Heights, Missouri.
These facilities have set the highest bar for the senior care industry, and we’re honored to work alongside their dedicated teams each day.
The Path to Excellence
The AHCA/NCAL National Quality Award Program is built on a three-tier progression—Bronze, Silver, and Gold—that challenges skilled nursing facilities and senior living communities to assess their strengths, identify opportunities for improvement, and demonstrate sustained progress over time.
The Gold – Excellence in Quality Award represents the culmination of that journey: a recognition that a facility or community has achieved measurable, lasting success across various measures that impact staff, residents/patients, and their family members.
What makes this achievement even more meaningful is the methodology on which it is based. The awards are guided by the Baldrige Excellence Framework, a nationally recognized model for organizational performance that has guided various industries—including healthcare—toward operational and cultural excellence for decades.
Developed through the Malcolm Baldrige National Quality Award Program, it helps organizations align their mission, strategy, and day-to-day operations in service of a singular goal: delivering better outcomes for the people they serve.
Supporting Quality Through Partnership
At Curana Health, we’re on a mission to improve the health, happiness, and dignity of seniors across the country. We do so by partnering with operators who share that commitment and delivering services that directly support the domains AHCA/NCAL recognize as critical to excellence.
Our clinicians work on-site within senior living and skilled nursing communities, providing prevention-focused, value-based primary care services that keep seniors healthier and support operational efficiency. We also provide medical directorship services through dedicated physicians who participate actively in QAPI efforts, provide antipsychotic stewardship, and lead survey readiness, risk stratification, and tag resolution efforts.
Additionally, through our Accountable Care Organizations and Medicare Advantage Special Needs Plans, we support our partners in doing more than meeting benchmarks: we help them reinvest in their people, strengthen their operations, and sustain a culture of excellence over the long term.
If your facility or community is ready to go for the AHCA/NCAL gold, we’d be honored to support you on your journey. Reach out to [email protected] to start a discussion today.
