Athol Hospital Ranked in Top 10 Hospitals in Massachusetts by Patients

GARDNER, Mass. - March 21, 2014 - PRLog -- Athol Hospital has been ranked eighth in the Commonwealth by patients. This ranking was done by GoLocal, using the latest results from the Hospital Consumer Assessment of Healthcare Providers and Systems, also known as the HCAHPS Survey.

The HCAHPS Survey, also known as the CAHPS® Hospital Survey or Hospital CAHPS®, is a standardized patient survey instrument and data collection methodology that has been in use since 2006.. A partnership of public and private organizations funded by the Federal government, specifically the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) and the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality (AHRQ), created HCAHPS to publicly report the patient’s perspective of hospital care. The HCAHPS results posted on Hospital Compare allow consumers to make fair and objective comparisons between hospitals and with state and national averages, on important measures of patients' perspectives of care.

The survey asks a random sample of patients to give feedback about topics, such as how well nurses and doctors communicated, how responsive hospital staff were to patient needs, how well the hospital controlled patients' pain, and the cleanliness and quietness of the hospital environment.

“Our mission is to be our communities’ trusted choice for exceptional patient-centered care,” stated Heywood Healthcare President & CEO Win Brown. “Being recognized for these efforts by our patients, our friends and neighbors, reaffirms our vision to be one of the best independent community healthcare systems in the country. Feedback from our patients is crucial as we create goals and implement systems to better serve our region.”

GoLocal's researchers compiled the summary percentages of each rating of every New England Hospital covered by the HCAHPS survey, and applied a proprietary weighting and formula, tabulating patients' ratings. Those final sums determined each hospital's ranking position.

###

About Athol Hospital
A member of the Heywood Healthcare system, Athol Hospital is a 25-bed non-profit, acute care and outpatient facility serving the communities of the North Quabbin region of Massachusetts. It is designated as a Critical Access Hospital and Primary Stroke Center, licensed by the Massachusetts Department of Public Health and accredited by the Joint Commission.

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.