HARRISBURG Pennsylvania Secretary of Health Michael Wolf announced this year's list of nursing home facilities that will be awarded the Department of Health's "Award for Excellence in Health Care Compliance."

"For three years now, the Department of Health has been proud to recognize exemplary nursing home facilities with these awards," said Wolf. "Pennsylvania is home to some of the best care available and it is our honor to showcase facilities that go above and beyond the call of duty for their residents."The Department of Health licenses and oversees 706 nursing homes statewide, conducting approximately 5,000 inspections annually, including licensure and certification surveys, follow-up surveys and complaint investigations.Facilities receiving the award were required to have no state citations over the last three calendar years based on annual health survey inspections. All department-licensed nursing homes were eligible for the awards and did not need to apply to be considered.The award-winning facilities for 2014 are Lehigh Center, Genesis HealthCare (Lehigh County); Schuylkill Center, Genesis HealthCare (Schuylkill County); Pennypack Center, Genesis HealthCare (Philadelphia County); Masonic Village at Warminster (Bucks County); Garvey Manor (Blair County); and Sacred Heart Home (Philadelphia County).The department will begin delivering the awards to facilities during National Nursing Home Week, which runs May 11-17. National Nursing Home Week was originated by the American Health Care Association in 1967 and is an observance to recognize the residents and employees of nursing home facilities.For more information relating to Pennsylvania healthcare services, facilities and providers, please visit the Department of Health's website at

http://www.health.state.pa.us/.