Fairview Receives 5-Stars for Overall Hospital Quality

GREAT BARRINGTON, Mass. — Fairview Hospital has been named a 5-Star Hospital by the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services.  

The star ratings - five stars being the top rating - relate to patients' experience of care. The ratings are based on data from the Hospital Consumer Assessment of Healthcare Providers and Systems Survey (HCAHPS) at more than 4000 Medicare-certified acute care hospitals across the country. The HCAPHPS summary star rating combines information about different aspects of patient's experience of care.

The HCAHPS survey focused on three topics: composite topics, individual topics and global topics encompassing measures including: nurse communication, doctor communication, and responsiveness of hospital staff, pain management, and communication about medicines, discharge information and care transition, patients’ perception of cleanliness of hospital environment and quietness of hospital environment, and hospital rating and willingness to recommend hospital.

Hospital Compare was created through the efforts of the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services, in collaboration with organizations representing consumers, hospitals, doctors, employers, accrediting organizations, and other federal agencies.The Hospital Compare web site can be viewed online.

Pittsfield City Council Weighs in on 'Crisis' in Public Schools

By Stephen DravisiBerkshires Staff
08:59PM / Monday, December 23, 2024

A half-dozen people addressed the City Council from the floor of Monday's meeting, including Valerie Anderson, right.

PITTSFIELD, Mass. — After expressing anger and outrage and making numerous calls for accountability and transparency, the 11 members of the City Council on Monday voted to support the School Committee in seeking an independent investigation into allegations of misconduct by staff members at Pittsfield High School that have come to light in recent weeks.

 

At the close of a month that has seen three PHS administrators put on administrative leave, including one who was arrested on drug trafficking charges, the revelation that the district is facing a civil lawsuit over inappropriate conduct by a former teacher and that a staff member who left earlier in the year is also under investigation at his current workplace, the majority of the council felt compelled to speak up about the situation.

 

"While the City Council does not have jurisdiction over the schools … we have a duty to raise our voices and amplify your concerns and ensure this crisis is met with the urgency it demands," Ward 5 Councilor Patrick Kavey said.

 

About two dozen community members attended the special meeting of the council, which had a single agenda item.

 

Four of the councilors precipitated the meeting with a motion that the council join the School Committee in its search for an investigation and that the council, "be included in the delivery of any disclosures, interim reports or findings submitted to the city."

 

Last week, the School Committee decided to launch that investigation. On Monday, City Council President Peter White said the School Committee has a meeting scheduled for Dec. 30 to authorize its chair to enter negotiations with the Springfield law firm of Bulkley, Richardson and Gelinas to conduct that probe.

 

Ward 7 Councilor Rhonda Serre, the principal author of the motion of support, was one of several members who noted that the investigation process will take time, and she, like Kavey, acknowledged that the council has no power over the public schools beyond its approval of the annual district budget.