Neponset Health Center receives national recognition

Neponset Health Center receives national recognition

The Geiger Gibson Community Health Center, the Mid Upper Community Health Center and the Neponset Health Center have been awarded Recognition by the National Committee for Quality Assurance (NCQA) Physician Practice Connections® (PPC) – Patient-Centered Medical Home ™ (PCMH) Program.

It took the health centers over one year to complete a detailed application to NCQA resulting in receiving the highest level of recognition for a PPC- PCMH –called Level 3. The Patient Centered Medical Home standards emphasize the use of systematic, patient-centered, coordinated care that supports access, communication and patient involvement. The 17 physicians and 16 nurse practitioners working at the health centers are among a handful of providers in the State to receive this recognition.

The three health conditions that were chosen as a part of the evaluation by NCQA were diabetes, asthma and pediatric care.  

“The patient-centered medical home promises to improve health and health care” said NCQA President Margaret E. O’Kane. “The active, ongoing relationship between a patient and a physician in medical homes fosters an all-too-rare goal in care: staying healthy and preventing illness in the first place. PPC PCMH Recognition shows that the Geiger Gibson Community Health Center, the Mid Upper Community Health Center and the Neponset Health Center have the tools, systems and resources to provide their patients with the right care at the right time.”

The health centers were assisted in reaching this goal by participating in a national demonstration project called the Safety Net Medical Home

Initiative (SNMHI) sponsored by The Commonwealth Fund and administered

by Qualis Health in partnership with the MacColl Institute for Healthcare Innovation.  The Initiative also receives support from eight regional co-funders, including The Boston Foundation, Blue Cross Blue

Shield of Massachusetts, Partners Community Benefit Fund, and the Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center.

Hearings to be held on new Mass. bullying law

Attorney General Martha Coakley is set to hold hearings on the state’s new anti-bullying law.

Coakley chairs a panel that was created under the 2010 law to explore whether additional state laws need to be passed or amended to crack down on school bullying.

The first hearing is scheduled today at the Statehouse. Another is scheduled for Springfield on Feb. 17.

The law was prompted by several high-profile incidents including the suicide of 15-year-old Phoebe Prince last year after what authorities said was relentless bullying and harassment by classmates at South Hadley High School.

The law requires all school systems in the state to develop bullying prevention plans and cracks down on cyberbullying.

Du Bois Center to partner with Springfield church

A well-known Springfield church is set to announce a partnership with the W.E.B. Du Bois Center at the UMass Amherst Libraries to promote the writings by the Massachusetts-born civil rights leader.

St. John’s Congregational Church is scheduled this week to give details of the new partnership.

The 165-year-old historic church is one of the oldest and active black churches in New England. It has deep ties to the anti-slavery and civil rights movement.

Du Bois was born in Great Barrington in 1868 and was a founder of the NAACP. He wrote more than 4,000 articles, essays and books, including “The Souls of Black Folk.”

Material from the Associated Press and news releases contributed to this report