DENVER, Dec. 29, 2016 /PRNewswire/ -- DaVita Inc. (NYSE: DVA), a leading independent medical group and a leading provider of kidney care services in the United States, today released a recap of major accomplishments for the company in 2016, marking its 16^th year bringing quality of life to patients and teammates around the world.

"Our relentless focus on quality patient care, creating a special place for teammates and giving back to local communities has yielded a year of milestones we can be proud of," said Kent Thiry, chairman and CEO of DaVita. "I'm honored to work with teammates who bring intentionality to caring for others as we strive to help our patients live their highest quality of life."

Major 2016 highlights include:

• Enhanced clinical quality as a leader in the federal government's Five-Star Quality Rating system for kidney care and CAPG's Standards of Excellence awards for HealthCare Partners (HCP), a DaVita® Medical Group, in California, Washington and Colorado.
• Expanded globally capitated care in key areas, including VillageHealth's population health division and with HCP's acquisition of The Everett Clinic in Washington.
• Continued growth in international markets such as Saudi Arabia and Germany, market entry in Brazil and a joint venture partnership with Khazanah and Mitsui to expand kidney care in Asia Pacific.
• Maintained a differentiated workplace as recognized by awards in various cities and acknowledgment by FORTUNE^® Magazine as one of the World's Most Admired Companies for the 10^th time.

Clinical Leadership

DaVita Outperforms the Rest of the Industry in Quality – For the third consecutive year, DaVita outperformed the rest of the industry under the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services' (CMS) Five-Star Quality Rating system with the highest percentage of centers rated with four or five stars. DaVita also led in CMS' ESRD Quality Incentive Program (QIP) for the third year in a row, with the most dialysis centers ranking in the top clinical performance tier.

FluidWise^® Program Helps Dialysis Patients Maintain Target Weight – FluidWise, DaVita's fluid management program, aims to reduce fluid-related hospitalizations – the main reason for dialysis patients' hospital admissions. Since 2013, DaVita has seen a more than 14 percent reduction in the number of patients with frequent excessive interdialytic weight gain.  

WipeOut Infections^® Program Helps Prevent Infections for Dialysis Patients – WipeOut Infections, DaVita's surveillance, prevention and response program, aims to help patients live longer and avoid infection-related hospitalizations. DaVita leads the industry with more than 90 percent of its dialysis patients immunized for influenza in 2016. 

CAPG Standards of Excellence Elite Status – CAPG awarded HealthCare Partners in California and The Everett Clinic in Washington its Standards of Excellence Elite Award. Colorado Springs Health Partners received a Standards of Excellence Exemplary Award. Standards of Excellence awards are achieved by surpassing rigorous, peer-defined benchmarks in the survey categories: Care Management Practices, Information Technology, Accountability and Transparency, Patient-Centered Care, Group Support of Advanced Primary Care, and Administrative and Financial Capability.

HealthCare Partners Reduces Hospitalization for Patients – HealthCare Partners patients had a 20 percent better chance of staying out of the hospital in 2016, compared to industry standards of hospitalization rates. Out of every 1,000 patients, only 226 HealthCare Partners patients were admitted to a hospital versus the industry average of 282 patients.

HealthCare Partners Reduces Hospital Readmissions – HealthCare Partners achieved success in care transitions and reducing hospitalizations in 2016. Patients treated by HCP had a 14 percent better chance of not returning to the hospital, thanks at least in part to the company's care transition program.

DaVita Hospital Services Optimizes Patient Experience with Patient Quality Pyramid – DaVita Hospital Services published its Patient Quality Pyramid to provide structure to how hospitals can achieve optimal patient experiences when working with renal care populations.

Highmark Patients Experience Fewer Hospital Admissions and Lower Healthcare Costs – DaVita VillageHealth, a subsidiary of DaVita that specializes in integrated kidney care and renal population health management, reported a 27 percent year-over-year reduction in hospital admissions and 26 percent year-over-year reduction in addressable costs among patients enrolled in its renal population health program with Highmark.

21^st Century Cures Act to Become Law – After three years of advocacy on behalf of dialysis patients and teammates, the president signed legislation allowing ESRD patients to choose a Medicare Advantage (MA) plan – until now, a choice available only to Medicare beneficiaries without ESRD. MA plans often provide high-quality, coordinated care for beneficiaries with complex medical conditions, which can enhance patients' health and quality of life.

Business Growth

DaVita, Khazanah and Mitsui Create Joint Venture to Expand Kidney Care Services in Asia Pacific – DaVita Kidney Care announced the creation of a long-term joint venture with Khazanah Nasional Berhad, the strategic investment fund of the Government of Malaysia, and Mitsui & Co., LTD., one of the most diversified and comprehensive trading, investment and services companies in the world. The joint venture is intended to support the growth of DaVita Kidney Care operations in the Asia-Pacific region.

DaVita Acquires First Dialysis Centers in Brazil – DaVita Kidney Care continued to expand its international footprint by acquiring eight clinics in Brazil in 2016. The company now treats nearly 2,000 patients in eight cities across the country.

HealthCare Partners Expands – HealthCare Partners announced the closing of the merger with The Everett Clinic, a nationally recognized physician group. The Everett Clinic operates 20 care sites north of Seattle, treating more than 315,000 patients and employing roughly 2,200 teammates, including more than 500 specialty and primary care providers. HealthCare Partners also announced acquisition agreements with Family Health Care of Central Florida, a highly reputable primary care group serving the Orlando metro area, and Mountain View Medical Group, the second largest physician group in Colorado Springs.

DaVita Launches Joint Venture with Inspira Health Network to Provide Dialysis Services – DaVita Kidney Care announced a joint venture with Inspira Health Network that will bring DaVita's industry-leading quality patient care to Southern New Jersey. The joint venture transferred majority ownership of three Inspira dialysis centers located in Vineland, Millville and Bridgeton to DaVita and created opportunities to grow dialysis services throughout the communities that Inspira currently serves.

DaVita, Northwell Health Announce Joint Venture to Deliver Full Suite of Kidney Care Services – Northwell Health (formerly North Shore-LIJ Health System) and DaVita Kidney Care announced a new joint venture to serve thousands of patients in Queens and Long Island with integrated kidney care. The joint venture between DaVita and Northwell Health, New York state's largest health care provider and private employer, also includes plans for additional expansion in Staten Island over the coming years.

DaVita Treats over 1,300 Patients in Saudi Arabia – DaVita celebrated the successful transition of over 1,300 Saudi patients to its care since receiving a five-year tender from the Saudi Ministry of Health to treat half of its 10,000 dialysis patients in 2014. The company also has opened 12 clinics in rural and urban areas of the country, providing greater access to quality kidney care.

DaVita VillageHealth® Manages 20,000 Renal Patients – DaVita VillageHealth continued to grow its commercial and government operations with more than 10 health plan and health system partnerships, eight Medicare Advantage Special Needs Plans and three ESRD Seamless Care Organizations. DaVita's renal population health division actively manages 20,000 renal patients, with nearly 7,000 at-risk patients.

Paladina Health Increases Number of Patients Served – Paladina Health, a direct primary care medical home subsidiary of DaVita Inc., offered primary care services for an eligible population of over 90,000 covered lives, an increase of over 42,000 from the year prior. The company opened seven new locations serving six new clients, including expansion into Ohio. Care is provided throughout 50 locations across 11 states.

DaVita Labs Expands Footprint in Florida – DaVita Labs, the diagnostic laboratory servicing both dialysis organizations and physician practices, expanded its laboratory operations in 2016 to DeLand, Florida, to accommodate future teammate growth.   

Village Awards

In 2016, DaVita won over 40 major awards, including the following:

Business Excellence

FORTUNE® Magazine's World's Most Admired Companies – For the ninth consecutive year, and 10th year overall, DaVita was named among the World's Most Admired Companies by Fortune® Magazine.

100 Most Influential People in Health Care – Kent Thiry was ranked number 18 among the most influential people in U.S. health care by Modern Healthcare. DaVita believes this list should be called the "most influential companies" list because this recognition is both a testament to its teammates' hard work and commitment to patients, and an indication of the growing acknowledgment of the contributions DaVita makes to the health care industry and to the world at large.

Consumer Reports – HealthCare Partners was named one of the highest-ranking medical groups in Los Angeles County for the third year in a row by Consumer Reports Magazine.

Freedom-Centered Workplace – For the ninth straight year, DaVita was ranked among the world's most freedom-centered workplaces by WorldBlu (formerly called "most democratic workplaces").

Caring for Our Patients

DaVita Clinical Research® Wins CRO Leadership Awards – DaVita Clinical Research (DCR) was awarded multiple Life Science Leader's 2016 CRO Leadership Awards. DCR received an award in each of the five categories: capabilities, compatibility, expertise, quality, and reliability as rated by decision-making executives at biopharmaceutical companies.

SCAN Health Plan Top Performing Medical Group – HealthCare Partners was honored in recognition of the quality of care and service delivered by medical professionals and staff. Selection was based on HCP's performance score of four stars or higher, on a five-star scale, in areas such as preventive screenings, treatment of chronic conditions, and appropriate documentation.

eHealthcare Leadership Award – DaVita was presented with a gold eHealthcare Leadership Award for DaVita.com/DietHelper in the consumer/disease-focused site category.

Anthem Blue Cross Enhanced Personal Health Care Program – For the third consecutive year, Anthem recognized HealthCare Partners for achieving quality scores that resulted in a cost savings of $1.6 million from participation in its Enhanced Person Health Care (EPHC) program, a commercial Accountable Care Organization (ACO). The savings were driven by meeting 100 percent of the quality thresholds set by Anthem, and exceeded the Medical Cost Target (MCT) benchmark. Specifically, HealthCare Partners was able to lower admission rates, direct patients to outpatient surgery centers more, and prescribe appropriate medications while increasing generic drug dispensing rates.

National Health Information Awards – DaVita took home two awards, a silver award for Today's Kidney Diet – Hearty Winter Dishes and a merit award for the DaVita Denver International Airport Ad Campaign.

Digital Health Information Awards – DaVita was honored with six awards this year, including four awards for its social media platforms; DaVita's Facebook (gold), Twitter (bronze), Pinterest (bronze) and Instagram (merit). The DaVita Kidney Diet Tips blog won a silver award in the web-based blog category and the DaVita Eats video won a Merit award in the web based video category.

Caring for Each Other

Top Workplaces – DaVita was named to the Colorado Top Workplaces list for the fifth consecutive year and to the Nashville list for the second time. HealthCare Partners' Florida division was recognized as a Tampa Bay Top Workplace for the seventh consecutive year.

2016 Training Top 125 – For the 12th consecutive year, Training Magazine named DaVita a leading organization that offers exceptional workforce training and leadership development programs.

Becker's Hospital Review 150 Great Places to Work in Healthcare – DaVita was named as one of the 150 Great Places to Work in Healthcare for the third year in a row.

LearningElite – DaVita was recognized as a Silver LearningElite organization in 2016 by Chief Learning Officer magazine for creating and implementing exemplary teammate development practices that deliver measurable business value.

Best Clinical/Top Doctors lists – Many physicians and clinics of HealthCare Partners and The Everett Clinic were named "Top Docs" or best medical facilities by community newspapers and business journals.

Ragan Employee Communications award – DaVita's Village Vitality program "Creating a Healthier Village" communications package won an Honorable Mention in 2016. 

International Association Business Communicators Gold Quill – Stories of the Village magazine won the Award of Excellence. This is the fourth year Stories of DaVita Village has won a Gold Quill.

Hermes Creative Awards – DaVita won multiple awards, including:

• Two gold awards for Stories of the DaVita Village Magazine and the "How to Shoot a Video" video
• Platinum award for the Open Enrollment program
• DaVita's internal creative teams won five Hermes awards: two Gold for the DaVita HealthCare Partners office installation and the International Kidney-Friendly Recipes (Colombia, Germany and Saudi Arabia), a Platinum award for the Thriving after Military Service (TAMS) booklet, and two Honorable Mentions for the "I am Redwoods" event material for DaVita's internship program and DaVita's green initiative 2020 Goals Campaign.

Caring for Our World

Dow Jones Sustainability Index (DJSI) – DaVita Kidney Care was selected as an index component of the DJSI. This recognized DaVita's corporate sustainability leadership in the healthcare equipment and services industry. DaVita was the only kidney care company on the list in 2016 and one of six North American companies in this category on the World List.

Newsweek Green Rankings – DaVita was recognized by Newsweek Green Rankings as a 2016 Top Green Company in the U.S. The company has appeared on the list every year the award program has run since 2009.

Communitas Awards – Village Green, DaVita's sustainability group, won in the 2016 Green Initiatives category. 

Military Awards

Best for Vets – DaVita was recognized by Military Times Edge as a "Best for Vets" employer for the seventh consecutive year.

Top Veteran-Friendly Companies – DaVita was honored as a top veteran-friendly company by U.S. Veterans Magazine for the fourth consecutive year.

Most Valuable Employer for Military – For the sixth year in a row, CivilianJobs.com named DaVita as a Most Valuable Employer for Military.

G.I. Jobs Military Friendly – DaVita was named a Military Friendly company by G.I. Jobs for the seventh consecutive year.

Clinical Innovation and Research

DaVita and Rock Health Announce Partnership to Advance Innovation in Healthcare – DaVita announced a partnership with Rock Health that will help facilitate direct connections between the diverse, innovative companies in Rock Health's portfolio and DaVita, to allow for opportunities to better serve DaVita's nearly two million patients, 67,000 teammates and 15,000 affiliated physicians around the world.

DaVita Clinical Research & Quintiles Announce Strategic Alliance – DCR announced a strategic alliance with Quintiles IMS, the world's largest provider of product development and integrated healthcare services. The alliance combines DaVita's world class clinical care and expansive footprint of research sites with Quintiles' industry-leading operational delivery and therapeutic expertise in clinical trials.

DaVita Clinical Research Launches Data Visualization Portal – DCR launched a Data Visualization Portal giving users complimentary access to a captivating, interactive data summary on its de-identified EMR dialysis datasets.

DaVita Hospital Services Receives Re-Accreditation from The Joint Commission – DaVita Hospital Services was re-accredited for Ambulatory Health Care from The Joint Commission in 2016. DaVita Hospital Services is the first dialysis organization to secure re-accreditation.

Falcon® Physician and MEDfx Team Up to Fully Automate a Nephrology Practice – MEDfx and Falcon Physician partnered to provide a standards-based Electronic Health Record (EHR), Practice Management (PM) and Revenue Cycle Management system to fully automate a nephrology practice.  

Falcon Mobile Launches Hospital Charge Capture – The new Hospital Charge Capture (HCC) feature on Falcon Mobile allows physicians to record charges at hospitals and access critical patient data within a single app.

Improved Patient Care

Chronic Kidney Disease Training Program Celebrates the Education of over 100,000 patients – Kidney Smart^® programs have educated over 100,000 patients since the programs' introduction in 2012. As a result, cardiovascular catheter (CVC) rates on the first day of dialysis treatment among patients educated in the Kidney Smart program are 25 percent lower than those who did not attend the training program.

Lifeline Vascular Access® Celebrates 1 Million Patient Encounters – Lifeline Vascular Access, a subsidiary of DaVita, celebrated its 1 millionth patient encounter in 2016. Lifeline is a nationwide network of free-standing outpatient vascular access centers, created to improve renal patient outcomes and quality of life by improving vascular access care. 

Paladina Health Exceeds Key Healthcare Delivery Benchmarks – For the second consecutive year, Paladina Health exceeded the 90th percentile for Healthcare Effectiveness Data and Information Sets commercial PPO benchmarks in hypertension management and colorectal cancer screening while achieving over 70 percent Net Promoter Score in patient satisfaction.

Short, How-To Recipe Videos Launch for Kidney Disease and Dialysis Patients – DaVita Kidney Care created a series of short cooking videos featuring kidney-friendly recipes to help make healthy diet options easy and accessible to patients with chronic kidney disease.

DaVita Launches International Kidney Disease Awareness Video Series – DaVita Kidney Care launched a series of five short, animated videos in multiple languages designed to raise awareness of and educate people on kidney disease in domestic and international communities where the company operates.

Nearly 5,000 People Assess Risk for Kidney Disease during National Kidney Month – In March 2016, nearly 5,000 people took a 60-second quiz – which can be accessed at DaVita.com/LearnYourRisk – to help assess their risk for kidney disease. One in 10 adults age 20 or older in the U.S. has kidney disease, but many don't know it because the disease is often symptomless in its early stages.

DaVita Educates Community about Health and Disaster Preparedness – DaVita's Village Emergency Response Team hosted emergency preparedness workshops in California and New York to better prepare dialysis patients and their communities for disaster situations. DaVita engaged local emergency responders, elected officials and healthcare agencies, resulting in increased awareness about the needs of dialysis patients after disasters.

DaVita Responds to Numerous Natural Disasters in 2016 – DaVita teammates responded to several natural disasters in 2016, including Hurricane Matthew and the historic flooding in Louisiana that impacted many patients, teammates and their families.

DaVita Labs Processes More Than 45 Million Tests in 2016 – DaVita Labs delivers accurate, timely test results for kidney care patients. In 2016, DaVita Labs processed more than 45 million tests, helping nephrologists provide quality care to their patients.

DaVita Supports Transplant Education – DaVita has long been committed to helping its patients receive a thorough kidney transplant education within 30 days of their first dialysis treatment. Patients are educated about the step-by-step transplant process and requirements, health benefits of a transplant and the transplant center options available to them.

Teammate Support

DaVita University Helps Teammates Develop Personally and Professionally – In 2016, DaVita University's Schools of Clinical Education and Leadership delivered 182 programs impacting more than 25,000 teammates to enhance their personal and professional development.

DaVita Supports Teammates with Military Background – Over the past six years, DaVita has hired more than 2,000 veterans. The "Village Veterans" programs encourage new veteran teammates to receive mentorship from company leaders as they transition to new roles within the company, and include:

• Veterans 2 Village (V2V) is a new, two-day class that was piloted in 2016 with the intent to integrate into the DaVita professional development curriculum in 2017. This class focuses on self-development and introduces our Village Veterans to our other military programs and benefits and explains how to get more involved in DaVita veteran initiatives. The 58 veteran participants and 12 veteran guides focus on emotional intelligence, communication and team building designed to help ease the transition from the military into the Village culture. 
• Thriving after Military Service (TAMS) is a five-day workshop, facilitated by a Marine Corps veteran, which takes an in-depth approach to self-development and includes the option to bring a guest. DaVita veteran teammates who have graduated from TAMS may become Veteran Guides for V2V and facilitate group discussions and class activities. 
• Veteran Guides are a group of teammates hand-selected from the TAMS graduate group to help facilitate the V2V live course. A one-day training is provided to help teammates understand how to guide table conversations and lead group discussions. Mentors are organically formed from the relationships created at the V2V program, and teammates attending V2V are encouraged to stay in contact with their Veteran Guides.

Corporate Citizenship, Education, Empowerment

DaVita Gives More Than $2.2 Million to Nonprofits Across the U.S. – For the sixth year in a row, the DaVita Way of Giving campaign has given clinical teammates throughout the U.S. the opportunity to direct donations to nonprofits in their communities. Since 2011, teammates have directed donations of nearly $9.1 million to nonprofits through the program. 2016 saw our highest level of participation ever – 90 percent of our clinical teams participated in the program, directing donations of more than $2.2 million and spreading ripples across their local communities. 

DaVita Furthers Goal to Majority Diverse Board – DaVita grew its board to 11 members in 2016, adding another female director and bringing the total number of women on the board to three. According to 2020 Women on Boards, only 42 percent of Fortune 1000 companies had boards that were 20 percent or more women.

Dynamic Volunteerism, DaVita's Skills-Based Volunteer Initiative – In 2015, DaVita launched a volunteer business consulting initiative designed to give teammates the opportunity to use their skills, talents and passions to address specific organizational needs of local nonprofits. This year, nearly 30 teammates partnered with the National Sports Center for the Disabled, Urban Peak and Denver Scholarship Foundation to improve these organizations' marketing and branding strategies, workplace culture, strategic planning and board governance.

Teammates Volunteer More Than 7,500 Hours During Earth Day Initiative – In honor of Earth Day 2016, approximately 2,600 DaVita teammates, their families and friends volunteered over 7,500 hours through 140 environmental service projects in their local communities.

Tour DaVita^® Raises over $1.2 Million for Global Kidney Care and Kidney Disease Prevention Efforts – More than 560 riders participated in Tour DaVita, DaVita's annual charity bike ride, which raised over $1.2 million to support Bridge of Life. Bridge of Life serves thousands of men, women and children around the world through kidney care, primary care, education and prevention and medically supported camps for kids.

DaVita Reports on Corporate Social Responsibility and Innovation – DaVita released its 2015 Community Care report, which highlights progress on key initiatives supporting the company's vision for corporate social responsibility (CSR) – the Trilogy of Care: Caring for Our Patients, Caring for Each Other and Caring for Our World.

DaVita Hospital Services Cares for Military Personnel – In September 2016, DaVita Hospital Services assembled and sent 350 care packages for military personnel serving overseas.

About DaVita Inc.
DaVita Inc., a Fortune 500® company, is the parent company of DaVita Kidney Care and HealthCare Partners. DaVita Kidney Care is a leading provider of kidney care in the United States, delivering dialysis services to patients with chronic kidney failure and end stage renal disease. As of Sept. 30, 2016, DaVita Kidney Care operated or provided administrative services at 2,318 outpatient dialysis centers located in the United States serving approximately 186,000 patients. The company also operated 139 outpatient dialysis centers located in 11 countries outside the United States. HealthCare Partners manages and operates medical groups and affiliated physician networks in California, Nevada, New Mexico, Florida, Colorado and Washington in its pursuit to deliver excellent-quality health care in a dignified and compassionate manner. As of Sept. 30, 2016, HealthCare Partners provided integrated care management for approximately 750,000 patients. For more information, please visit DaVita.com/About.

DaVita is a registered trademark of DaVita Inc.

Contact Information
Media:
Ashley Henson
(303) 876-6626
ashley.henson@davita.com

SOURCE DaVita Inc.