News

Awards and Accreditations

BMC Renal Dialysis Unit Achieves High Marks in Medicare Report
July 20, 2010 For Immediate Release BMC Renal Dialysis Unit Receives High Marks in CMS Report PITTSFIELD, MA - The Renal Dialysis Unit at Berkshire Medical Center has been documented as providing remarkable patient care results in the past four years, according to a facility report issued by the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS). The report includes Medicare data that is collected by CMS for all dialysis units across the country and issued annually to state health departments and dialysis centers. Some of the data is also publicly reported on the Dialysis Facility Compare website. The information includes survival rates, hospitalization rates, adequacy of dialysis, anemia management, transplantation statistics and dialysis access rates. For the period from 2006 to 2009, 24% fewer patients on dialysis at BMC died compared to other dialysis units in the US. This means that patients on dialysis at BMC were 24% more likely to survive than if they were on dialysis at another facility. In 2009 alone, 41% of patients at BMC were more likely to survive than if they were treated elsewhere. “This is the result of a very dedicated team of providers who work tirelessly every day to be sure all of our patients receive nothing but the best care,” said Dr. David Henner, Medical Director of the BMC Dialysis Unit. Several other pieces of data from the report point to the quality of the BMC Dialysis Unit. The hospitalization rate of patients from the BMC unit was 24% lower than the national average, and BMC dialysis patients spent 25% fewer days in the hospital compared to other units. For patients under 70 years old on dialysis at BMC, 98% more received a kidney transplant than comparable units in the US. In 2009, 99% of BMC patients had adequate clearance of toxins from their blood during dialysis, compared to 96% for the rest of the country. Other data included: 85% of patients at BMC had ideal management of anemia compared to 81% of patients nationwide; 49% of new patients starting dialysis at BMC had AV Fistula in place, the preferred dialysis access for survival on dialysis, according to the National Kidney Foundation, compared to 32% across the country; and in 2009, 68% of all patients on dialysis at BMC had AV Fistula in place compared to 61% nationally. “These results are very impressive, and they show that the patients in our community who need this vital treatment are receiving care that is above and beyond similar centers across the United States,” said Diane Kelly, RN, BMC Chief Operating Officer. “I congratulate this dynamic, incredible team for their ongoing success.”