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Awards and Accreditations

Berkshire VNA Honored Nationally
November 13, 2012 For Immediate Release Berkshire Visiting Nurse Association Named as a Top Agency of the 2012 Home Care Elite The Berkshire Visiting Nurse Association has been named a Top Agency of the 2012 HomeCare Elite™, a compilation of the top-performing home health agencies in the United States. Now in its seventh year, the HomeCare Elite identifies the top 25% of Medicare-certified agencies and further highlights the top 100 and top 500 agencies overall. Winners are ranked by an analysis of publicly available performance measures in quality outcomes, process measure implementation, patient experience (Home Health CAHPS), quality improvement, and financial performance. The Berkshire VNA, part of Berkshire Health Systems, provides comprehensive home health services throughout Berkshire County and the surrounding region. “The 2012 HomeCare Elite winners demonstrate a commitment to providing patient-centered care and serving as leaders in the home health community. Their success offers data-driven proof of being well-managed and high quality care providers to hospitals, managed care organizations, ACOs, and other potential referral partners across the healthcare continuum,” said Susan L. Henricks, President and COO of National Research Corporation, the parent company of OCS HomeCare. “Again, this year, we updated our methodology to reflect the rapidly evolving quality-focused healthcare landscape and national value-based purchasing trends. We congratulate Berkshire Visiting Nurse Association on being recognized as a top home care agency.” “HomeCare Elite recognition continues to gain importance given the increased regulatory mandates and the threat of shrinking reimbursement revenue. Home health agencies that have earned recognition among the HomeCare Elite demonstrated that they not only can adapt to an evolving marketplace but continue to excel in clinical, patient experience, quality improvement, and financial outcomes,” said Marci Heydt, Product Manager for the post-acute care business group of DecisionHealth. The HomeCare Elite is the only performance recognition of its kind in the home health profession. The 2012 HomeCare Elite is co-sponsored by National Research Corporation (also known as OCS HomeCare), the leading provider of cross-continuum healthcare metrics and analytics, and DecisionHealth, the publisher of the industry’s most respected independent newsletter Home Health Line. The data used for this analysis were compiled from publicly available information. About National Research Corporation and OCS HomeCare OCS HomeCare is a product of National Research Corporation. For more than 30 years, National Corporation (NASDAQ: NRCI) has been at the forefront of patient-centered care. Today the company’s focus on empowering customer-centric healthcare across the continuum extends patient-centered care to incorporate families, communities, employees, senior housing residents, and other stakeholders. Currently recognized by Modern Healthcare as the largest patient satisfaction measurement firm in the U.S., National Research is dedicated to representing the true voice of patients and other healthcare stakeholders. This integration of cross-continuum metrics and analytics uncovers insights for effective performance improvement, quality measurement, care transitions, and many other factors that impact population health management. For more information, call 800-388-4264, write to info@nationalresearch.com, or visit www.nationalresearch.com. About DecisionHealth® For over 30 years, DecisionHealth has served as the leading source for home health news, coding tools and resources, and training materials found in reputable products such as Home Health Line. Our unique blend of award-winning staff journalists and unmatched access to health care executives and industry experts enables DecisionHealth to provide solutions, tools, and guidance that are relied on by nearly 100,000 home health care and specialty physician practice professionals. For more information, please visit www.decisionhealth.com or call 877.602.3835.