Digestive Healthcare Center In Hillsborough Earns Award From NJAFP

By Gloria Averbuch

The New Jersey Academy of Family Physicians (NJAFP) has awarded Digestive Healthcare Center for its innovative work on patient-centered care.

The 2015 Patient-Centered Innovation Award was presented at NJAFP’s Advanced Topics in Healthcare Delivery symposium in Atlantic City, NJ on Thursday, June 11, 2015.

The award was for the Bundled Colonoscopy Program (Episodes of Care), which Digestive Healthcare Center developed in partnership with Horizon Healthcare Innovations for the first time. The Bundled Colonoscopy Program is a new patient-centered approach to providing colonoscopy services.

Furthermore, the project created parameters based on nationally recognized standards by which the patient can judge the completeness and accuracy of the colonoscopy procedure as well as the technical expertise of the gastroenterologist. As members of the GIQulC (GI Quality Improvement Consortium), DHC provides results, accessible to a national registry. To access these results, go to dhccenter.com. The Bundled Colonoscopy Program has helped facilitate DHC’s overall patient satisfaction rate, which has increased to greater than 98 percent.

“We are honored NJAFP has chosen Digestive Healthcare Center as the first Specialty Practice ever to receive this award, thereby acknowledging our effort in enhancing the treatment a practice provides and the care a patient receives,” said Dr. Charles Accurso, Medical Director, Digestive Healthcare Center.

Cari Miller, MSM, PCMH CCE, NJAFP’s Director of Advocacy and Project Operations, said, “This is the second year we offered this award and we are pleased that Digestive Healthcare Center has demonstrated a commitment to offering innovative approaches to patient-centered care.” NJAFP used a blinded review process and a panel of healthcare experts to review all applications received to determine award recipients for 2015. Recipients were determined based on specific criteria, such as creativity, use of a care team and more.

Digestive Healthcare Center (DHC), founded by Dr. Charles Accurso in 1989, is a gastroenterology practice with headquarters in Hillsborough, NJ and additional offices in Somerville and Warren. DHC offers a full range of gastroenterology screenings and procedures for digestive conditions and diseases, including innovative procedures done by few physicians in the area. DHC, which also features a Women’s Wellness Center, was also one of the first gastroenterology practices in New Jersey to open its own surgical center, The Central Jersey Ambulatory Surgical Center. There are over 7,000 procedures performed yearly at the onsite Center, which is AAAHC accredited.