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Quality & Safety

One of the values our organization holds most dear is our dedication to deliver high quality, safe care to each and every person we serve. We believe very deeply in the Institute of Medicine’s (IOM) STEEPE principles, providing care that is:

  • Safe, by avoiding harm from care that is intended to help
  • Effective, by practicing evidence-based medicine to avoid underuse, overuse or misuse of services
  • Patient-centered, by reflecting the individual needs and values of each patient
  • Timely, providing access in the most suitable manner to our patients and families
  • Efficient, by focusing our efforts to bring value to our patients and communities
  • Equitable, as the level and quality of our care should never vary due to race, gender, ethnicity, sexual orientation, geographic location, and socioeconomic status

We do this in a number of ways:

  • We think about our patients’ health even when they do not and proactively contact patients to ensure each person receives the care that is most appropriate and beneficial
  • We stay up-to-date on the latest research findings and recommend proven screenings and tests that are appropriate for each person’s individual situation and personal health goals.
  • Across the organization, we work collaboratively to establish rigorous quality and safety goals, and use “Lean” thinking to continuously improve our processes.
  • We believe that transparent communication with our patients and our co-workers is essential to delivering safe care.  Therefore we encourage patients, families and employees to let us know when patient harm occurs or when the potential for patient harm exists.
  • We communicate fully and transparently with patients and families when harm occurs through our Communication, Apology and Resolution program (CARe). We investigate all cases of harm fully and are committed to preventing future harm from occurring.
  • We believe that keeping our employees safe is fundamental to our core mission and values.  We encourage transparent reporting of employee harm and the potential for employee harm.
  • We strive to provide an exceptional patient experience to our patients and their families.
  • We believe that demonstrating kindness, compassion and empathy to our patients is core to who we are as an organization.
  • We educate our patients and encourage them to become engaged in their own healthcare through our on-line patient portal called MyHealth, after visit care plans, and health education materials, all designed to help our patients take an active, positive role in their health.
  • We choose to partner with high performing organizations that can bring the same level of high-quality, customized care to our patients no matter where they receive it. For example, our primary hospital partner, Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center, has been consistently recognized as one of the nation’s top 65 hospitals by the Leapfrog Group and the only Boston-based hospital system named by Thomson Reuters as one of its "15 Top Health Systems" in the country.
  • We strive to practice evidence-based medicine to provide the best care possible

Our focus on quality is reflected in the consistently high scores given to Atrius Health from the Massachusetts Health Quality Partnership, the National Center for Quality Assurance, Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS), health insurance plans and many other organizations. 

We are one of the largest medical groups in the country to achieve the Level 3 patient-centered medical home designation from the National Committee for Quality Assurance (NCQA), recognized for our ability to deliver coordinated, multi-disciplinary care to our patients.  

In 2015, Atrius Health ranked as the highest achieving Pioneer Accountable Care Organization (ACO) in New England in its overall quality score and ranked third highest nationally based on 33 ACO quality measures tracked by CMS.  

Also in 2015, Million Hearts®, a national initiative led by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) and the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS), recognized Atrius Health as a winner of its 2015 Hypertension Control Challenge. Click here for more information.