[ST. PAUL, MN] – Governor Tim Walz today announced that the Minnesota Department of Veterans Affairs (MDVA) received the Abraham Lincoln Pillars of Excellence Award from the U.S. Department of Veterans for their work to end veterans homelessness. Additionally, four Minnesota veterans homes received a national customer experience award for the sixth year in a row.

“Minnesota is on track to become the fourth state to end veterans homelessness, and we’re using a nation-leading outreach program to reach that goal,” said Governor Walz. “I’m proud of our team at MDVA who are dedicated to connecting veterans to their critical benefits. This recognition reflects Minnesota’s commitment to providing the best services and care for our veterans.”

Abraham Lincoln Pillars of Excellence Award
MDVA Commissioner Brad Lindsay accepted the award from Veterans Affairs Secretary Denis McDonough for “Innovation in Eliminating Veteran Homelessness.” MDVA has won five Pillars of Excellence Awards in recent years.

MDVA’s SOAR program collaborates with key organizations and community groups to provide Minnesota’s homeless and at-risk veterans with expanded access to Social Security Income (SSI) and Social Security Disability Insurance (SSDI) benefits. SOAR stands for SSI/SSDI Outreach, Access, and Recovery.

“The SOAR program has established itself to be one of the most important homelessness prevention strategies in Minnesota’s drive to be the fourth state in the nation to effectively eliminate Veteran homelessness,” says Lindsay. “I’m proud that this team’s dedication and focus on building relationships is being recognized by the VA.”

The Abraham Lincoln Pillars of Excellence Award was established in 2012 by the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs to recognize best practices from the National Association of State Directors of Veterans Affairs (NASDVA) members that have developed effective programs to address the current five top-line issues: customer experience with VA benefits and services, eliminating the claims and appeals backlog, eliminating veterans homelessness, delivery of services to Tribal governments serving Native American veterans, suicide awareness and prevention and innovative state programs.

Pinnacle Quality Insight Award
For the sixth year in a row, four Minnesota veterans homes received Pinnacle Quality Insight’s Customer Experience Award ^.in the Skilled Nursing Facility category. The four skilled facilities are in Fergus Falls, Luverne, Minneapolis and Silver Bay.

Pinnacle Quality Insight is a customer satisfaction measurement firm with more than two decades of experience in post-acute health care. Pinnacle conducts more than 150,000 phone surveys each year and works with more than 2,700 care providers across the United States. Only those providers that are in the 85th percentile or higher receive this recognition.

Over the past year, Pinnacle interviewed both veterans homes’ residents and their families on several areas including: activities, admission process, cleanliness, dignity and respect, nursing care, overall customer experience, professional therapy services, and safety and security. The results are compared to others in the industry and the Minnesota Veterans Homes have been identified as “best in class.”

“The Pinnacle survey results represent the overall quality our Homes provide to our Residents by our staff,” said Eric Meittunen, deputy commissioner of veterans healthcare. “We are very proud of the level of care that is provided and appreciate the work of all employees to provide this experience to Residents and families.”

By qualifying for the Pinnacle Customer Experience Award, the Minnesota Veterans Homes have satisfied the rigorous demand of scoring in the top 15% of the nation across a 12-month average.