Berkshire Medical Center Achieves Straight ‘A’ Grades for Patient Safety

PITTSFIELD — The Leapfrog Group, the nation’s leading nonprofit watchdog on hospital quality and safety, has announced new Leapfrog Hospital Safety Grades, and Berkshire Medical Center (BMC) once again earned an ‘A.’ BMC has achieved straight As since the inception of the Safety Grade in 2012, and is one of only 63 hospitals nationwide to attain this honor.

“Berkshire Medical Center has been, and continues to be, a national leader in providing the safest environment for our patients,” said David Phelps, president and CEO of Berkshire Health Systems. “I congratulate our entire team of caregivers on this recognition, which again validates that BMC provides the highest standard of care.”

Straight-hospitals not only achieve the highest national standards for safety, but they consistently maintain that level of excellence, said Leah Binder, president and CEO of the Leapfrog Group. “That means that they put the well-being of their patients first, every hour of every day, year after year. We are proud to recognize that that tireless commitment.”

Diane Kelly, BMC’s chief operating officer, and Dr. Gray Ellrodt, chief quality officer and chairman of Medicine, noted that “our consistent performance in patient safety is the result of our team approach to care. Physicians, nurses, advanced-practice professionals, nursing assistants, technologists, therapists, pharmacists, and all of our staff work together to ensure that our patients receive the safest, best care in the nation.”

Developed under the guidance of an expert panel, the Leapfrog Hospital Safety Grade uses 30 measures of publicly available hospital safety data to assign letter grades to more than 2,600 U.S. hospitals twice per year. It is calculated by top patient-safety experts, peer-reviewed, fully transparent, and free to the public. To see Berkshire Medical Center’s full grade, and to access consumer-friendly tips for patients, visit www.hospitalsafetygrade.org.