Berkshire Medical Center Earns Top Performer Status
PITTSFIELD — Adding to its national recognition for quality care from organizations like HealthGrades, the American Heart Assoc,. and other national organizations, Berkshire Medical Center has again been named a Top Performer in a Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS)/Premier Healthcare Alliance project that rewards hospitals for delivering high quality care.
BMC is one of 216 hospitals in the U.S. to participate in the sixth year of the pilot program with CMS and Premier, known as the Hospital Quality Incentive Demonstration (HQID) project. BMC has participated in all six years to date, and this year received awards for Top Performer and Attainment in Acute Myocardial Infarction (AMI), Heart Failure and the Surgical Care Improvement Project, and Attainment in the Treatment of Pneumonia. BMC consistently participates in national quality measurement programs such as HQID, which is a voluntary program for U.S. hospitals.
Over the course of the first six years of the project, BMC has received 26 awards overall, including nine for AMI, five for heart failure, four for the Surgical Care Improvement Project, six for pneumonia, and two for hip and knee replacement.
“Providing outstanding service to our community continues to be our primary mission,” said Diane Kelly, chief operating officer of BMC. “Our successes in this project are a testament to our ongoing efforts to improve the quality of care we offer our patients.”
“This high level of quality care was achieved through the dedication of our entire staff,” said David Phelps, president and CEO of Berkshire Health Systems. “Berkshire Medical Center participates in programs like the HQID so that our community can be confident, through objective review, that we provide exceptional care, and our patients can be confident they are receiving the best care right here at home.”
“HQID tests the impact of economic incentives on quality,” said Susan DeVore, president and CEO of Premier, a health care quality and cost improvement alliance of more than 2,500 U.S. hospitals and 77,000-plus other health care sites. “Supporting the Affordable Care Act, HQID members will now have six years of experience in using a value-based purchasing model.”