Berkshire Visiting Nurse Assoc. Recognized by U.S. News & World Report
PITTSFIELD — The Berkshire Visiting Nurse Assoc. has been named a Best Home Health agency for 2026 by U.S. News & World Report. This recognition comes as part of U.S. News’ first-ever evaluation of home health providers, identifying the top-performing agencies in the U.S.
With more than 3 million patients turning to home health agencies each year, this debut analysis offers a much-needed, independent view of quality. By prioritizing patient outcomes and consumer experience for a predominantly senior population, these ratings provide clarity for families, in consultation with their physicians, making crucial care decisions.
The Berkshire VNA earned the High Performing designation — the highest level of recognition — for exceeding expectations in care quality and patient experience based on U.S. News’ methodology.
“The nurses and therapists at the Berkshire VNA provide the highest standard of care for our home care patients, day in and day out,” said Tejas Ghandi, Berkshire Health Systems vice president and Berkshire Medical Center chief operating officer. “This national recognition reflects their commitment to excellence as they travel across the county and provide hands-on care in the patients’ homes.”
In the first edition of Best Home Health, U.S. News evaluated more than 12,000 agencies. Just 17% of the agencies it rated were awarded the Best Home Health designation.
“Earning the Best Home Health distinction is a significant achievement, as it is reserved only for those agencies that satisfy U.S. News’ standards of care quality and patient experience,” said Ben Harder, chief of Health Analysis and managing editor at U.S. News.
The Best Home Health methodology developed by U.S. News leverages two data sets from the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services. Data on care quality measures, including timely initiation of care and outcomes such as potentially preventable hospitalizations, were combined with patient experience surveys to produce the ratings.