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Hospice, Berkshire HealthCare MergeStaff Reports
iBerkshires
09:12PM / Wednesday, September 09, 2009
 PITTSFIELD, Mass. — After months of discussion, the state's largest nonproft long-term care company and the major nonprofit hospice in the county are joining forces.
Executives with Berkshire Healthcare Systems Inc. and HospiceCare of the Berkshires announced late Wednesday that an agreement to merge had been reached.
"The joining of these two mission-driven organizations strengthens the broader continuum of services for residents of Berkshire County," said Bill Jones, executive vice president of Berkshire Healthcare Systems. "During this period of economic uncertainty, the post-acute services offered by this newly combined structure will result in enhanced and more efficient care to our community."
The board of directors and leadership staff from Berkshire Healthcare Systems and HospiceCare in the Berkshires spent several months discussing the opportunities that a merger would offer both organizations to better serve the residents of Berkshire County, according to a statement from the organizations.
Jones said Berkshire Healthcare, the larger of the two organizations, will benefit from a diversification of its services and alignment with an organization that shares its tradition of quality services and community benefit.
 Berkshire Healthcare is the long-term affiliate of Berkshire Health Systems, parent company of Berkshire Medical Center and Fairview Hospital. It operates 16 rehabilitation and nursing facilities (one each in Ohio and Pennsylvania) and the Kimball Farms retirement community in Lenox, and employs more than 3,000.
HospiceCare provides services to residents throughout Berkshire County. Far smaller, it employs physicians, therapists, registered nurses, medical social workers and health aides (along with volunteers), offering a team approach for patients at home, in nursing homes or hospitals. Established by a group of volunteers in 1980, it incorporated as a Medicare-certified and Massachusetts-licensed hospice provider in 1991.
Officials with both organizations say the merger will provide Berkshire residents with a more seamless system of services when they are in need of rehabilitation, long-term care or end-of-life care.
"BHCS will support our ongoing mission and philosophies of care that our agency has provided to Berkshire County residents for almost 30 years," said Denise Granger, executive director of HospiceCare. "We have great confidence in our future, in this partnership with Berkshire Healthcare in how our cooperative efforts will enhance end-of-life care."
Both nonprofit organizations are consumer-centered focusing not only on residents and patients, but the well-being and support of their families as well. The geographic reach of Berkshire Healthcare, with six long-term care and rehabilitation facilities throughout Berkshire County, provides HospiceCare in the Berkshires with greater geographic presence and the ability to expand its services to meet more patients and families in need.
The Corridor Group, a national health-care consulting firm based in Kansas, advised the two organizations during merger discussions. The group's President Jeannee Parker Martin said the Berkshires should benefit from the nonprofits' joining forces.
"Together they will be able to provide a broader array of rehabilitation and end-of-life care services and expand their current capacity for high quality care delivery," said Martin. |
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