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BMC Achieves Third Straight Distinguished Hospital Designation
February 19, 2015 For Immediate Release Berkshire Medical Center Achieves Healthgrades Distinguished Hospital Award for Clinical Excellence: Third Year in a Row that BMC is Among Top 5% of Hospitals in Nation PITTSFIELD, MA – Berkshire Health Systems has announced that Berkshire Medical Center has received the 2015 Distinguished Hospital Award for Clinical Excellence™ from Healthgrades, the leading online resource for comprehensive information about physicians and hospitals. This is the third straight year that BMC has been recognized with this prestigious honor, which places BMC in the top five percent of the more than 4,500 hospitals evaluated nationwide based solely on its outstanding clinical performance. “I am proud of our entire staff for their consistent commitment to excellence,” said David Phelps, President and CEO of Berkshire Health Systems. “BMC strives to continually improve our quality, safety and overall patient experience so that our community can always rely on receiving the best care anywhere.” From 2011 through 2013, Healthgrades Distinguished Hospitals for Clinical Excellence, as a group, had a 27.7% lower risk adjusted mortality rate across 19 procedures and conditions where in-hospital mortality was the clinical outcome, compared to all other hospitals. During this same period, if all other hospitals performed at the level of Distinguished Hospitals for Clinical Excellence across these 19 procedures and conditions, 163,488 lives could potentially have been saved. For example, patients treated at a hospital that achieved the Distinguished Hospital for Clinical Excellence Award had, on average, a 26.6% lower risk of dying from a stroke than if treated at a hospital that did not receive the award. “Berkshire Health Systems and Berkshire Medical Center place the highest emphasis on quality and patient safety. They are the top considerations for every decision we make, and we are fortunate to have a health system that continually invests in its people, facilities and technology to ensure that our physicians, nurses, technologists, therapists and support staff achieve the best outcomes for our patients,” said Diane P. Kelly, RN, BMC Chief Operating Officer. “Our success comes from everyone working together as a team and committed to providing our community with the best care anywhere.” “To achieve these kinds of results for our patients, we need more than a team of expert physicians, nurses and support staff. We need expert teams,” said Dr. Gray Ellrodt, BMC Chief Quality Officer and Chairman of Medicine. “The difference happens when everyone works together seamlessly to deliver exceptional care for every patient, every time.” Variation in hospital performance exists locally as well as nationally. For example, of the 14 hospitals evaluated located in the Albany, NY region for treatment of Respiratory Failure, risk-adjusted in-hospital mortality rates ranged from 2.9% on the low end to 42.5% on the high end, which is more than a 14-fold difference in mortality rates.] “Consumers today are assuming more and more responsibility for healthcare decisions and are increasingly relying on objective measures of quality to inform their selection of hospitals and physicians,” said Evan Marks, Chief Strategy Officer, Healthgrades. “It is important for consumers to understand the variability in the nation’s hospitals so that they can make more informed choices. By selecting a hospital like Berkshire Medical Center that has achieved the Healthgrades Distinguished Hospital Award for Clinical Excellence, consumers can be confident that this hospital has demonstrated a long-standing commitment to exceptional clinical quality care.” The 261 recipients of the Distinguished Hospital Award for Clinical Excellence™ stand out among the rest for overall clinical excellence across a broad spectrum of care. During the 2015 study period (2011-2013), these hospitals showed superior performance in clinical outcomes for patients in the Medicare population across at least 21 of 32 of the most common inpatient conditions and procedures —as measured by objective clinical outcomes performance data (risk-adjusted mortality and in-hospital complications). To learn more about how Healthgrades determines Distinguished Hospital Award for Clinical Excellence™ recipients, please visit www.healthgrades.com/quality.