BHS Receives Outpatient Joint Replacement Excellence Award

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PITTSFIELD, Mass. — Berkshire Medical Center (BMC) announced that it has been recognized as a 2024 Outpatient Joint Replacement Excellence Award recipient by Healthgrades, the leading resource consumers use to find a hospital or doctor. 
 
According to a press release, this achievement, along with being a 5-Star recipient for Outpatient Total Knee Replacement for 2 consecutive years (2023-2024), reflects the organization's dedication to clinical excellence and distinguishes Berkshire Medical Center as one of the nation's leading hospitals for outpatient joint replacement. BMC is one of 152 hospitals nationwide to receive the Joint Replacement Excellence Award.
 
"Excellence is a hallmark of BMC's orthopedic care," said Darlene Rodowicz, president & CEO of Berkshire Health Systems (BHS). "Our community can count on our team's continuous commitment to providing the highest quality care for our joint replacement patients, so they can get back to being active and enjoying the activities they love without pain."
 
"This national recognition is validation of the team approach to exceptional care that Berkshire Medical Center and Berkshire Orthopaedic Associates commit to for every patient, every encounter, every day," said James Lederer, MD, BHS Chief Medical Officer/Chief Quality Officer. "Using state-of-the-art technology and with the vast experience and expertise of our clinical team, BHS provides the Berkshire community with access to joint care that is second to none."
 
To identify the top-performing hospitals for outpatient joint replacement, Healthgrades analyzed patient outcomes at short-term acute care facilities nationwide that offer knee and hip replacement in an outpatient environment. Healthgrades' analysis found that patients treated at hospitals that have been recognized for excellence in outpatient joint replacement have a demonstrably better chance at a smooth recovery than those treated at hospitals that were not recognized by Healthgrades. This includes:
 
  • Patients treated at hospitals that received a 2024 Outpatient Joint Replacement Specialty Excellence Award have, on average, approximately 38 percent lower risk of experiencing a complication than if they were treated at non-recipient hospitals.
  • If all hospitals performed similarly to those receiving five stars, over 20,000 complications could have been avoided.

(Statistics are based on Healthgrades analysis of SAF data for years 2020 through 2022 and represent three-year estimates for Medicare patients only. For more information on how Healthgrades identifies the nation’s top hospitals for outpatient joint replacement, see the 2024 Outpatient Specialty Excellence Awards and Ratings Methodology.)

"Our clinical team is committed to attaining the best outcomes for all of our patients needing joint replacement surgery," said Kevin Mitts, MD, Berkshire Orthopaedic Associates. "All of us are proud to be a part of this and work together to ensure the highest standards."
 
"Berkshire Medical Center exemplifies what it means to be a leader in outpatient orthopedics by delivering consistently superior outcomes across key outpatient procedures," said Brad Bowman, MD, Chief Medical Officer and head of Data Science at Healthgrades. "Patients undergoing outpatient joint replacement at Berkshire Health Systems should feel confident in their decision to seek care from a facility with top marks in their procedure."
 
As outpatient surgical volumes continue to grow, Healthgrades is proud to offer the industry's only outcomes-based outpatient ratings to help patients identify the best care for their needs. Consumers can visit Healthgrades.com to learn more about how Healthgrades measures hospital quality.
 

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Pittsfield Community Development OKs Airport Project, Cannabis Amendment

By Brittany PolitoiBerkshires Staff

PITTSFIELD, Mass. — The Community Development Board has supported plans for a new hangar at the airport and a change to the cannabis ordinance.

Lyon Aviation, located in the Pittsfield Municipal Airport, plans to remove an existing "T" style hangar and replace it with a new, 22,000-square-foot hangar.  The existing one is said to be small and in poor condition while the new build will accommodate a variety of plane sizes including a larger passenger jet.

"There's no traffic impacts, there's no utilities to speak of," Robert Fournier of SK Design Group explained.

"I'll say that we did review this at length with the airport commission in the city council and this is the way we were instructed to proceed was filing this site plan review and special permit application."

The application states that the need for additional hangar space is "well documented" by Lyon, Airport Manager Daniel Shearer, and the airport's 2020 master plan. The plan predicts that 15 additional hangar spaces will be needed by 2039 and this project can accommodate up to 10 smaller planes or a single large aircraft.

Lyon Aviation was founded in 1982 as a fuel-based operator that provided fuel, maintenance, hangar services, charter, and flight instruction.

This is not the only project at the Tamarack Road airport, as the City Council recently approved a $300,000 borrowing for the construction of a new taxi lane. This will cover the costs of an engineering phase and will be reduced by federal and state grant monies that have been awarded to the airport.

The local share required is $15,000, with 95 percent covered by the Federal Aviation Administration.

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