Local Health Center Earns Recognition
MARTINSBURG - Shenandoah Valley Health Center's latest accolade puts it in a tremendous leadership role for the community's health care, Terri Bliziotes said Tuesday.
With its recent recognition as a Patient-Centered Medical Home by the National Committee for Quality Assurance, SVHC is on the cutting edge of health care, she said.
Bliziotes runs a private consulting firm in Charleston, Peak Performance Consulting, and coordinated SVHC's effort to become recognized for its high standards of health care.
"The framework for the medical home is the framework for reform," she said. "All medical care is local and SVHC is working with local providers to provide a medical home."
Patient-Centered Medical Home, trademarked by NCQA, is health care that revolves around the care the patient needs, when the patient needs it, Bliziotes explained. It is comprehensive, coordinated, integrated services, she said, which SVHC epitomizes.
"The problem with the medical system is we don't have the good ol' family doc anymore," Bliziotes said. "About five years ago, the movement started again. A patient adopts SVHC as their medical home."
Patients can get practically all their medical needs met at SVHC. The health center offers family medicine, pediatrics, OB/GYN, behavioral health and oral health - a comprehensive package with coordinated services.
Physicians and medical care providers collaborate because the services are all under one roof, and with SVHC's electronic medical records system, they can immediately refer to the patient's medical history, which also is tied in with City Hospital's EMR system.
"It improves the quality of care with access under one roof," Bliziotes said.
Randy Jacobs, director of administration, said SVHC is one of only two health centers in West Virginia with the Patient-Centered Medical Home recognition. The other is Valley Health Center in Mill Creek. There are 28 health centers in the state.
SVHC is the only health center in the state with both the NCQA recognition and accreditation by the Joint Commission, which accredits and certifies more than 17,000 health care organizations and programs in the United States, he said Tuesday.
Also, SVHC is the only NCQA recognized health care organization in the quad-state region, according to NCAQ's website.
There are fewer than 200 health care organizations like SVHC nationwide with both the NCQA Patient Centered Medical Home recognition and Joint Commission accreditation, Jacobs said.
SVHC won the designation June 7, and it runs through June 7, 2013.
"We serve all our patients' needs," he said. "Transportation, interpreters, multicultural - we have the services in place to meet whatever the need is."
Jacobs reiterated that with health care
