LHC Group, Inc. (NASDAQ: LHCG), a national provider of comprehensive post-acute healthcare services, has earned 2016 HomeCare Elite® rankings for 103 providers, including 179 individual locations. The company also achieved industry-leading quality and patient satisfaction scores in the most recent Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services’ Five-Star Quality Rating System results.

With more than 60 percent of its home health locations named among the 2016 HomeCare Elite nation-wide, and with the highest CMS Star ratings compared to home health national averages, LHC Group continues to rise as one of the top quality home health providers in the country according to independent industry analysts.

“Quality patient care is the top priority at all LHC Group locations and providers,” said Keith G. Myers, LHC Group chairman and CEO. “We are proud to have 179 locations – more than 60 percent of our home health agencies – earn HomeCare Elite recognition. These achievements, along with our industry-leading CMS scores, validate the hard work and commitment to excellence exemplified by our teams across the nation.”

For more than ten years, HomeCare Elite has annually identified the top 25 percent of Medicare-certified agencies and highlights the top 100 and top 500 agencies overall. Winners are ranked by an analysis of publicly available performance measures in quality outcomes, best practice (process measure) implementation, patient experience (Home Health CAHPS®), quality improvement and consistency, and financial performance. In order to be considered, an agency must be Medicare-certified and have data for at least one outcome in Home Health Compare. Out of 9,406 agencies considered, 2,353 are recognized on the 2016 HomeCare Elite winners list.

In the latest CMS Star ratings – released in October – LHC Group achieved high ratings well above national averages in both quality and patient satisfaction categories for the fourth consecutive quarter.

The Five-Star Quality Rating System was instituted by CMS as part of its Home Health Compare website to provide a “tool for consumers to use when choosing a home health care provider.” The system ranks providers in two categories: Quality of Patient Care and Patient Satisfaction. The ratings are highly respected performance indicators for home health providers and are viewed as a key differentiator in the industry.

The HomeCare Elite ranking is developed by ABILITY® Network, a leading information technology company helping providers and payers simplify the administrative and clinical complexities of healthcare; and sponsored by DecisionHealth, publisher of: Home Health Line, The Complete Home Health ICD-10-CM Diagnosis Coding Manual and The Home Health Coding Center.

About LHC Group, Inc.
LHC Group, Inc. is a national provider of non-acute healthcare services, providing quality, cost-effective healthcare to patients primarily within the comfort and privacy of their home or place of residence. LHC Group provides a comprehensive array of healthcare services through home health, hospice, community-based services agencies and long-term acute care hospitals (LTACHs). LHC Group operates 289 home health services locations, 64 hospice locations, 11 community-based service locations and six LTACHs with eight locations.