RANDOLPH, Vt., Jan. 19, 2024—Gifford Health Care has earned two merit badges in recognition of quality: a Community Health Quality Recognition (CHQR) badge from the Health Resources & Services Administration (HRSA) for achievement in Health Information Technology and a Patient-Centered Medical Home badge from the National Committee for Quality Assurance (NCQA).
CHQR badge
CHQR badges recognize health centers that have made notable quality-improvement achievements in the areas of access, quality, health equity, health information technology, and COVID-19 public health emergency response for the most recent reporting period. To earn its CHQR badge for Health Information Technology (HIT), Gifford met the following criteria: adopted a new electronic health record (EHR) system, offered telehealth services, exchanged clinical information online with key providers health care settings, engaged patients through health IT, and collected data on patient social risk factors.
“Your health center’s efforts are central to advancing a model of coordinated, comprehensive, and patient-centered care,” said HRSA Associate Administrator James Macrae in a letter announcing the CHQR badge for Health Information Technology. “Thank you for your commitment to providing quality primary health care services to your community.”
The HIT badge comes after Gifford launched, in October 2023, a new EHR and Gifford Patient Portal, providing patients with greater flexibility in accessing their health information and other resources. The new system is used at Gifford Medical Center and in all Gifford clinics across the region.
“Our new electronic health record is a great step forward for Gifford and our patients,” said Gifford President and CEO Dan Bennett. “This Community Health Quality Recognition badge from HRSA recognizes that, and shines a light on the good work of our colleagues who saw us through this transition to advance access to health information for our community.”
For more information about Community Health Quality Recognition, visit hrsa.gov.
PCMH badge
Patient-Centered Medical Home (PCMH) recognition is a standard of care for HRSA-funded health centers that improves health outcomes and health equity and lowers costs for patients and health centers. Following the PCMH model, Gifford’s Primary Care practices put patients at the forefront of care and provide or arrange “for all the care the patient may need, keeping in mind the medical, behavioral and life challenges a patient pay be facing.” As a PCMH, Gifford completes annual reporting requirements with documentation and data to demonstrate that it embraces measurement and quality improvement.
“This merit badge affirms our team’s dedication to continuously improving,” Bennett said. “I am thankful for the many committed professionals at Gifford who contribute to this designation, from our team members on the front lines of Primary Care to our staff in Quality Management who continuously evaluate our systems, policies and processes to optimize patient care and outcomes.”
For more information about PCMH recognition, visit ncqa.org.
For more information about Gifford, visit giffordhealthcare.org.
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Gifford is a community hospital in Randolph, Vt., with family health centers in Berlin, Bethel, Chelsea, Randolph, and Rochester, and specialty services throughout central Vermont. A Federally Qualified Health Center and a Top 100 Critical Access Hospital in the country, Gifford is a full-service hospital with a 24-hour emergency department and inpatient unit; many surgical services; an adult day program; 49-unit independent living facility, and a nursing home. The hospital’s mission is to improve individual and community health by providing and assuring access to affordable, high-quality health care in Gifford’s service area.
