When it comes to your healthcare, quality matters. At Neighborhood Health Center, our data-driven approach to providing high quality, affordable healthcare has helped us earn a federal Health Resources & Services Administration (HRSA) Health Center Quality Leader Silver badge for 2022. The badge means Neighborhood ranks in the top 10% of health centers in New York State for quality, and Neighborhood is the highest ranked health center in Western New York.

Each year health centers nationwide are required to report a core set of information, including data on patient characteristics, services provided, clinical processes and health outcomes, patients' use of services, staffing, costs, and revenues as part of a standardized reporting system known as the Uniform Data System (UDS). HRSA uses this data to determine quality scores for each health center and awards badges to health centers with high quality scores.

Neighborhood also studies the data in order to identify areas where we can focus efforts to improve patients’ health outcomes, and then we develop strategies for achieving improvements. Some examples of focus areas for Neighborhood have included diabetes A1c controls, cervical cancer screenings, and childhood immunizations. We invite you to explore the rankings further at the HRSA website by clicking here, because where you get your care matters. Reviewing quality scores can help you make an informed decision about your healthcare provider.

HRSA also awarded Neighborhood three other quality-related badges for 2022. Descriptions of the badges earned:

Access Enhancer Badge – This badge recognizes health centers that have increased the total number of patients and the number of patients who receive at least one comprehensive service (mental health, substance abuse, vision, dental, and/or enabling) by at least 5% during consecutive Uniform Data System reporting periods (2020 and 2021 UDS). Having access to high-quality healthcare services is one of the Social Determinants of Health; Neighborhood is commitment to expanding access to quality care in Western New York and has opened two new health center locations in 2022.

Advancing HIT for Quality Badge – This badge was awarded to Neighborhood Health Center for its use of health information technology (HIT) to help improve the quality of the services provided to patients.

Patient Centered Medical Home – This badge identifies Neighborhood Health Center as a medical practice that has invested in a model of care that puts patients at the forefront and where continuous quality improvement is a priority.

“Impactful healthcare provided by kind people is our mission and we are constantly looking at ways of improving our quality of care,” says Neighborhood Health Center President and CEO Joanne Haefner, MS, FNP. “Being the top-ranked health center in Western New York, and our top 10% ranking statewide, means not only are we providing affordable access to services but we are also improving the care experience and health of patients with the services we provide, which in turn improves the health of our community.”