CALAIS - Calais Regional Hospital learned recently that its CRH Home Health Agency was selected as a national best practice agency in the National Home Care Quality Improvement/Hospitalization Reduction Project.

The department competed with similar departments in hospitals nationally.

"We're always recognized that we have a great home health department, now others recognize it too," hospital officials said in a prepared release. "The leadership, professionalism and highly effective work of the department has made a difference."

The department scored in the top 10 percent of agencies in the country for preventing hospitalizations through the effective use of home care, the release went on to say. "CRH Home Health clearly represents excellence in this critically important national measure of quality care," hospital officials added.

Home care is a critical part of the nation's service delivery system for seniors and other homebound patients. With the country's aging population and the growing number of people needing home care, the importance of finding best practices and learning from best practice agencies is becoming more important to the future of our country's service delivery system for our elderly, the press release said.

The National Association for Home Care awarded CRH's Home Health Agency with a certificate in recognition of its outstanding performance in the acute care hospitalization area. "As a national best practice agency, the department is a leader in the home health industry quality improvement efforts toward preventing hospitalizations," the press release said.