Berger Hospital's Emergency Department Recognized as Emergency Center of Excellence

CIRCLEVILLE, OH, October 15, 2010

Berger Hospital has earned recognition as an Emergency Center of ExcellenceTM by Emergency Excellence, an organization specializing in emergency department benchmarking.

Berger Hospital is the first area hospital to qualify as an Emergency Center of Excellence, and ranked in the top percentiles of all participating hospitals.

According to Tim Colburn, Berger President and CEO, there are nearly 35,000 visits to Berger's emergency department annually. "We know when families walk through our doors, they have immediate health care needs," said Colburn. "Our team is dedicated to providing patients the highest quality care, in a timely manner. This award validates our efforts."

The Emergency Center of Excellence award is based on the results of over 100 key performance indicators linked to safety, patient satisfaction, staffing, and effective communication systems. Emergency Excellence worked hand-in-hand with the Berger ED and quality teams to collect benchmark data. They surveyed many of our physicians, nurses, staff, and administrators during an on-site assessment.

"Berger Hospital's emergency department does a fantastic job," said Dr. Mark Reiter, CEO of Emergency Excellence. "Physician-nurse relationships are extremely good, which translates into excellent patient care. Patients move through the ED quickly with minimal waits."

Berger Hospital's emergency department prides itself on getting patients treated and released in the most efficient manner. "On average, the majority of our patients are seen in two hours or less," added Colburn. "That's twice as quick as the national average."

"Our staff and physicians are prepared for any emergency," said Dr. Brett Call, President of the Medical Staff and ED Medical Director. "Should a patient need to be transferred to a larger hospital for specialty care, we have strong relationships with high quality facilities in central Ohio to make that happen quickly and efficiently. We appreciate the community's support in trusting us with your care."

For more information about any Berger services, call (740) 420-8390 or visit bergerhealth.com.

Contact:
Kelly Feeley
Berger Health System
600 N. Pickaway St.
Circleville, OH 43113
Ph: 740-420-8390
Email: kelly.feeley@bergerhealth.com

About Berger Health System:
Berger Health System is a full service hospital and health system serving residents of Pickaway County and surrounding communities. We have over 150 physician specialists on our medical staff. We offer full service inpatient and outpatient healthcare, including general and orthopedic surgery, cancer care, pulmonary and sleep medicine, obstetrics and gynecology, inpatient and outpatient rehabilitation, and cardiovascular care. For more information on any of Berger Health System's facilities and services, visit our website at http://www.bergerhealth.com.

About Emergency Excellence (EmEx):
Emergency Excellence was founded in 2008 to help hospitals improve performance and recognize excellence in emergency care. EmEx provides a variety of emergency department performance improvement services including benchmarking, interactive dashboards, patient callbacks, and consulting. EmEx awards the Emergency Center of Excellence award to top-performing emergency departments. More information about EmEx can be found at http://www.emergencyexcellence.com.