GVNA Healthcare Honored by the Home Care Alliance of Massachusetts

GARDNER, Mass. - April 7, 2014 - PRLog -- Gardner, MA – GVNA Healthcare, Inc. has been selected by the Home Care Alliance of MA as one of this year’s Home Care Innovators. The GVNA was selected for this honor by the Innovation Showcase Committee and is to be recognized at the Home Care Alliance’s “Innovations Showcase and Star Awards” event on Tuesday, April 29, at the John F. Kennedy Presidential Library and Museum in Boston.

The GVNA was nominated by MA eHealth Institute (MeHi) as part of a group of six agency early adopters in building data sharing connections across the health care continuum. The GVNA worked collaboratively with Heywood Hospital to improve care transitions by embracing new technologies including MassHIway, to improve secure interagency sharing of patient information, enhancing the care experience.

The Massachusetts Health Information Highway (The HIway) will further advance the Commonwealth’s goal to electronically connect all of its health care community. The Commonwealth is working with public and private partners to extend its existing technology infrastructure.

“I am thrilled to see the GNVA honored for its dedication to improving data sharing, and, in turn, the care they are able to provide to our community,” stated Heywood Healthcare Vice President and Chief Information Officer Carol Roosa. “The more information we are able to share, the better the experience can be for the patient.”

When fully developed, The HIway will provide a mechanism for the Commonwealth’s entire health care community—residents, providers, public health officials and others—to have appropriate access to health information.

Featured speakers for the Innovations Showcase and Star Awads will be Lynn Nicholas, President of the Massachusetts Hospital Association, and Wendy Everett, CEO of the Network for Excellence in Health Innovation.

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About Heywood Healthcare
Heywood Healthcare is an independent, community-owned healthcare system located in the North Central region of Massachusetts. It is comprised of Heywood Hospital, a non-profit, 134-bed acute-care hospital in Gardner, MA; Athol Hospital, a 25 bed not-for-profit, Critical Access Hospital in Athol, MA; Heywood Medical Group with primary care physicians and specialists located throughout the region; and four satellite facilities -Winchendon Health Center and Murdock School-based Health Center in Winchendon, West River Health Center in Orange and Heywood Rehabilitation Center in Gardner.

About Heywood Hospital
Part of the Heywood Healthcare system, Heywood Hospital is a 134-bed acute care hospital in Gardner, MA, which provides a broad range of high quality medical, surgical, obstetrical, pediatric and behavioral health services on an inpatient and outpatient basis. The hospital’s Centers of Excellence include the Watkins Center for Emergency and Acute Care; the LaChance Maternity Center; the Diabetes Center; and the Heywood Heart Center, an affiliate of the Heart and Vascular Center of Excellence at UMass Memorial Health Care.

About GVNA HealthCare, Inc.
GVNA HealthCare employs 177 employees and is governed by a volunteer Board of Directors.  The mission of GVNA HealthCare, Inc. (formerly known as Gardner Visiting Nursing Association, Inc.) is to build healthy communities by delivering high quality health and social services, in a fiscally responsible manner, in the homes and neighborhoods of 31 cities and towns in Northern Worcester and Franklin Counties.

When the GVNA was established as a non-profit agency in 1906, its primary goal was to provide nursing care in patient homes. It has since evolved into a mainstay community health and social service agency in the region. The agency now provides Medicare certified home care and hospice in addition to adult day health care in four locations (Athol, Gardner, Fitchburg, and Greenfield). GVNA sponsors North Worcester County Healthy Families which is a nationally recognized program that helps young parents raise children who are safe, healthy, and ready to learn.