Berks Community Health Center earns GOLD in Quality

On November 6, 2023, HRSA announced the top 10 percent of health centers receiving a Gold Health Center Quality Leader badge for their achievements in improving health outcomes and providing high-quality care for patients in rural and underserved communities. The digital badges, part of the Community Health Quality Recognition (CHQR) badge program, honor the health centers across the country that have attained the best overall clinical quality performance.  Over 1400 federally qualified health centers exist in the United States placing BCHC in the top 140.

Additionally, BCHC is one of only three FQHC’s out of 43 to receive this recognition.  “We are honored to have earned this high honor that exemplifies 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.”

Additional badges earned by BCHC were in recognition of specific quality measures met during the 2022 reporting period:

• 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 Patient Centered Medical Home (PCMH) Badge, which recognizes all four BCHC locations as meeting standards to be designated a PCMH. The patient-centered medical home (PCMH) model is an approach to delivering high-quality, cost-effective primary care. Using a patient-centered, culturally appropriate, and team-based approach, the PCMH model coordinates patient care across the health system.

Kargbo commented, “As we celebrate serving the community for over a decade now, I am very proud of the significant progress we have made.  Earning a Gold Badge in our infancy is quite an accomplishment.  We strive for excellence in all we do and earning these recognitions proves that.”