Berkshire Medical Center Touted for Excellence in Pulmonary Care
PITTSFIELD — Berkshire Medical Center is one of America’s 100 Best Hospitals for Pulmonary Care, according to a new report from Healthgrades, the leading provider of information to help consumers make informed decisions about physicians and hospitals. BMC also received Healthgrades’ Excellence Awards in pulmonary care, stroke care, and critical care. These honors place BMC in the top 5{06cf2b9696b159f874511d23dbc893eb1ac83014175ed30550cfff22781411e5} of hospitals in the U.S. for pulmonary care and the top 10{06cf2b9696b159f874511d23dbc893eb1ac83014175ed30550cfff22781411e5} for both stroke and critical care. In Massachusetts, BMC is ranked 4th in all three categories of care for 2013. In addition, earlier this year, BMC received the 2012 Excellence Award for emergency medicine for performance in the top 5{06cf2b9696b159f874511d23dbc893eb1ac83014175ed30550cfff22781411e5} in the nation.
The findings are part of American Hospital Quality Outcomes 2013: Healthgrades Report to the Nation, which evaluates the performance of approximately 4,500 hospitals nationwide across nearly 30 of the most common conditions and procedures.
“Our ongoing commitment to providing the highest-quality patient care for our community is reflected in these latest recognitions,” said David Phelps, president of Berkshire Health Systems. “National honors from independent ratings organizations like Healthgrades are important, but not just for the awards themselves. For us, these recognitions represent years of commitment to excellence on the part of our physicians, clinicians, and staff. For the communities we serve, they can serve as an objective confirmation of exceptional quality. Residents of the Berkshires can feel confident that they are receiving the best care close to home.”
Dr. Gray Ellrodt, BMC’s chief quality officer and chairman of the Department of Medicine, said that “these awards are based on consistent clinical excellence over several years. This means that we treat every patient using the best clinical evidence, integrated with our staff’s extensive experience and an intense focus on the values and preferences of our patients and families. Since these awards are based on outcomes, including survival and low complication rates, we can be confident that our patient-centered focus is working for our community.”
BMC received 5-star ratings from Healthgrades in a dozen areas of clinical care: heart attack, heart failure, hip fracture, stroke, overall pulmonary services, chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, pneumonia, carotid surgery, peripheral vascular bypass, gastrointestinal bleed, sepsis, and respiratory failure. Many of these five-star ratings have been sustained over many years.
According to the Healthgrades study, the risk of death is 75{06cf2b9696b159f874511d23dbc893eb1ac83014175ed30550cfff22781411e5} lower at hospitals\ receiving five stars compared to one-star-rated hospitals. Patients also have a 61{06cf2b9696b159f874511d23dbc893eb1ac83014175ed30550cfff22781411e5} lower risk of complications at five-star hospitals compared to onestar rated hospitals. The 2013 performance outcomes are now available to the public at www.healthgrades.com.