Marlborough – Steve Roach, president and CEO of UMass Memorial-Marlborough Hospital presented the 2017 Helen Ferris Patient Safety Award to the hospital’s CHART Team June 28.
The award was established by the Board of Trustees as a way of recognizing a staff member, team or a department for their ongoing commitment to keeping patients safe and well. The award is named after the late Helen Ferris, the mother of Neil Ferris who was the former chair of the board. The CHART Team, consisting of co-chairs Irene Hadley and Padma Bheri, along with Melanie Board, Lois Obeng, Jan D’Agostino and Michelle Cohan, was honored at a hospital luncheon.
The CHART Team has made a significant impact in caring for patients who are heavy utilizers of the hospital services. The team has worked diligently to establish community resources that help with the health management of these patients. Working collaboratively with members of the hospital team and with community partners, the CHART Team has helped reduce the number of emergency room visits and hospitalizations for these patients.
In 2016, Marlborough Hospital had applied for and received a CHART (Community Hospital Acceleration, Revitalization and Transformation Investment Program) from the Massachusetts Health Policy Commission. The goal of the CHART program is to promote care coordination, integration, and delivery transformations; advance electronic health records adoption and information exchange among providers; increase alternative payment methods and accountable care organizations; and enhance patient safety, access to behavioral health services, and coordination between hospitals and community-based providers and organizations.
“Providing the right care that the patients need and in the best environment for them are the ultimate goals of the program,” said Roach. “Our CHART Team is really helping make a difference in many of our patients’ lives.”