The Health Resources and Services Administration, part of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, recently awarded five 2021 Community Health Quality Recognition (CHQR) badges to Berks Community Health Center (BCHC). According to HRSA, CHQR badges recognize Health Center Program awardees that have made notable achievements in the areas of access, quality, health equity, health information technology, social risk factors screening, and COVID-19 public health emergency response using Uniform Data System (UDS) data from the most recent reporting period.
“We are honored to have earned five badges that exemplify our commitment to providing quality care to our community”, says Mary Kargbo, President and CEO of Berks Community Health Center. “We are blessed to have a team of committed and skilled staff who focus on our mission of providing exceptional patient-centered primary and preventive healthcare for all residents of Berks County, regardless of economic status.”
The badges earned by BCHC were in recognition of specific quality measures met during the 2021 reporting period:
- The Health Center Quality Leaders Silver Badge, which recognizes the top 21-30{b574a629d83ad7698d9c0ca2d3a10ad895e8e51aa97c347fc42e9508f0e4325d} of FQHCs that achieve the best overall clinical quality measure performance.
- The Advancing Health Information Technology (HIT) for Quality Badge, which recognizes FQHCs that meet all criteria to optimize HIT services that advance telehealth, patient engagement, interoperability, and the collection of social determinants of health to increase the access to care and advance the quality of care.
- The Access Enhancer Badge, recognizing at least a 5{b574a629d83ad7698d9c0ca2d3a10ad895e8e51aa97c347fc42e9508f0e4325d} increase in the total number of patients served and the number of patients who receive at least one comprehensive service (mental health, substance abuse, vision, dental, and/or enabling).
- The Health Disparities Reducer Badge, demonstrating improvements in select CQMs during consecutive UDS reporting years (2020 and 2021 UDS) for at least one racial/ethnic group; or meets established benchmarks for all racial/ethnic groups served within the most recent UDS reporting year.
- The Patient Centered Medical Home (PCMH) Badge, which recognizes all four BCHC locations as meeting standards to be designated a PCMH.
Kargbo commented, “As we celebrate serving the community for a decade now, I am very proud of the progress we have made. We strive for excellence in all we do and earning these recognitions proves that.”