The history of Summit Home Health Care

Summit Home Health Care is a locally owned, independent, full-service home health care agency that has been providing quality care to the Colorado Springs community since 1995. It is owned by Cecile Alderman, R.N., who, during the 20+ years of her nursing career, has assisted in opening 14 home health agencies. She is also a Certified Health Care Risk Manager and a Certified Legal Nurse Consultant. Cecile's passion for home health care began when her own mother was quite ill and was unable to stay at home. After her mother's death, Cecile vowed to get her nursing degree and open a home health care agency, one that was committed to quality and compassionate care. She has done that, in part by surrounding herself with caring and capable health care professionals, and she has built a team of non-clinical administrative staff that embodies those same high standards.

Summit Home Health Care promotes excellence via a Professional Advisory Committee that meets annually to review the work of the standing committees that meet quarterly throughout the year. These committees are: Infection and Exposure Control, Clinical Records Review, Safety Management, and Ethics. The Advisory Committee is comprised of individuals in the community that will have an interest and expertise in the operations of the agency, i.e., the Medical Director (a physician), an attorney, a social worker, a business person, etc. It is through extra efforts such as these that enables Summit Home Health Care to be certain it is performing at and above industry standards.

Summit Home Health Care is Medicare/Medicaid Certified

Summit Home Health Care is a Medicare/Medicaid certified agency. This means that all of Summit's patients, even those who are covered by private insurance or who pay privately (out-of-pocket) can be assured that the same strict compliance to medical standards required by Medicare are applied to every patient, regardless of payer source.  State agencies periodically (usually every 2-3 years) conduct a survey of Medicare agencies, bringing a team of surveyors on-site to review charts, interview staff, and provide oversight. The ratings received by home health care agencies help consumers be aware of the quality of the care provided by a particular agency. Agencies that are not Medicare certified do not have to meet the same stringent guidelines for patient care as those agencies that are certified. In fact, non-certified agencies only monitor themselves.