Northern Westchester Hospital Makes History

MOUNT KISCO – Northern Westchester Hospital (NWH) is the first hospital in the world to be awarded the prestigious Planetree Person-Centered Care Gold Certification with Distinction by Planetree International for the sixth consecutive time, solidifying its commitment to providing exceptional person-centered care. The Distinction level recognizes the hospital’s innovative and replicable programs, while the Gold Certification recognizes the hospital’s continuous delivery of exceptional person-centered care in several key areas, including empathy and compassion, patient engagement, holistic healing, quality and safety, healing environment and community engagement. Hospitals are eligible to be recertified every three years.

“We take great pride in this international certification and in continuing to be a leader in delivering innovative, person-centered services for our local community,” said Derek Anderson, MPH, FACHE, executive director of NWH. “This recognition is also particularly meaningful because it recognizes the high-level of engagement of our team. The voice of our team is evident in everything we do and that is not only good for their professional development and satisfaction, but it is very good for our patients and their families.”

Some of the hospital’s unique person-centered initiatives include the Behavioral Health Mindful Meditation Pathway (easy to use techniques and skills that help patients focus, cope and practice gratitude 24/7), pet therapy, music therapy, Art Cart (patients select from 200 pieces of art for their room during their hospital stay) and Food is Care, a program that elevated Northern Westchester to the top 10% of hospitals nationwide for meal service patient satisfaction. NWH also established The Ken Hamilton Caregivers Center, which helps caregivers with emotional support, counseling, access to social workers, and other resources necessary to navigate the current health care system. The center has been replicated in 24 other sites across the country, including the Mayo Clinic in Arizona.

Person-centered care is a way of providing healthcare that prioritizes the patient, their support network and works together with the healthcare team. It fosters a nurturing environment for caregivers and seeks to address the health needs of the entire community served by the organization. Research in the International Journal of Integrated Care showed that when health systems implement and improve their person-centered care, it leads to better patient outcomes and satisfaction.

NWH is nationally recognized for providing state-of-the-art medical expertise and world -class care. One of the many accolades the hospital has received is the MAGNET award, a prestigious designation granted by the American Nurses Credentialing Center (ANCC) in recognition of nursing excellence. The hospital earned a top ‘A’ rating for patient safety, according to the national nonprofit Leapfrog Group for spring 2023. The Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) gave NHW four of out of five stars for service quality in 2023. Earlier this year, the hospital was named one of the best in the nation by the Women’s Choice Award® based on a review of almost 5,000 hospitals in the country.