Caregivers from Griffin Health received the Gold Certification for Excellence in Person-Centered Care™ recognition at the 25th Annual Planetree Global Person-Centered Care Forum in New Orleans on Oct. 9.
Griffin Hospital in Derby has been awarded Gold Certification for Excellence in Person-Centered Care™ by Planetree International.
This Person-Centered Care Certification recognizes Griffin Hospital’s achievement and innovation in the delivery of person-centered care. Griffin Hospital is one of only 172 healthcare organizations worldwide to earn this prestigious award. Planetree also gave Griffin a special recognition for receiving gold certification 15 times consecutively.
“The Planetree Certification is the only award that recognizes excellence in person-centeredness across the continuum of care,” said Michael Giuliano, President of Planetree. “This Gold Certification signals to its patients, and community that Griffin Hospital is an organization where staff partner with patients and families, and where patient and family comfort, dignity, empowerment and well-being are prioritized as key elements of providing top-quality clinical care.”
Gold Certification for Excellence in Person-Centered Care represents the highest level of achievement in person-centered care, based on evidence and standards. Person-centered healthcare prioritizes the active participation of patients and their families throughout the healthcare process with an emphasis on partnership, compassion, transparency, inclusion, and quality.
“We are committed to continually elevating the standards of care ensuring excellence in every aspect of our service to our patients, our community and our caregivers,” said Griffin Hospital President and CEO Patrick Charmel. “It is an honor to be recognized for our commitment to person-centered care, and we are proud to partner with Planetree in facilitating exceptional healthcare in a manner that works best for our patients. By working hand-in-hand with patients and their caregivers, we’re empowering individuals to improve their health and enrich the overall well-being of our community.”
Griffin Hospital has been awarded Gold Certification for Excellence in Person-Centered Care™ by Planetree International, recognizing the hospital’s achievement and innovation in the delivery of person-centered care.
The criteria that Griffin Hospital satisfied to achieve Planetree Gold Certification reflect what patients, residents, family members and healthcare professionals in hundreds of focus groups around the world, say matters most to them during a healthcare experience. This qualitative data aligns with the growing evidence-base for person-centered care, and establishes the Person-Centered Care Certification Program as a concrete framework for defining and measuring excellence in person-centeredness.
The criteria address components of a person-centered healthcare experience, including the quality of patient-provider interactions, access to information, family involvement and the physical environment of care. Importantly, the criteria also focus on how the organization supports its caregivers, provides opportunities for staff, patients, and families to have a voice in the way care is delivered, and the ways that Griffin Hospital is reaching beyond its walls to care for its community.
As part of the Certification process — which included an onsite “lived experience” validation assessment by representatives from Planetree — discussion with Griffin Hospital patients, families and current staff validated that specific person-centered policies are in place, including patient-directed family presence and policies that engage patients and families in meaningful ways; that staff members at all levels are involved in the implementation of person-centered care; and that the organization’s physical environment supports patient and family engagement. The process also included a review of the organization’s performance on patient experience and quality of care measures, and how measurement of these indicators improves organizational outcomes.
For more information on Planetree’s Person-Centered Care Certification® Program, including the criteria, the application process and more, visit planetree.org/certification.
About Griffin Hospital
Griffin Hospital is a 160-bed acute care community hospital serving more than 130,000 residents of the Lower Naugatuck Valley Region. Griffin Hospital is the flagship hospital for Planetree, an international consumer healthcare organization dedicated to promoting patient-centered care, and has received national recognition for creating a healthcare facility and an approach to patient care that is responsive to the needs of the whole person and their loved ones. Griffin’s commitment to the patient-centered care philosophy enhances its mission to improve the well-being of its communities by empowering individuals with health education, wellness programs and assistance with social determinants of health. Many healthcare organizations around the world send visitors to Griffin Hospital’s facilities and incorporate its Planetree concepts into their healthcare models.
Griffin Hospital is recognized for having industry-leading patient satisfaction ratings and has received numerous quality and clinical excellence awards. Griffin Hospital was listed as one of the “World’s Best Hospitals” by Newsweek magazine for six consecutive years (2019-2024), awarded Gold Certification for Excellence in Person-Centered Care™ by Planetree International, and was named one of “Becker’s 100 Great Community Hospitals” the highly reputable healthcare specialty publication Becker’s Hospital Review for continued focus on equity, patient satisfaction, innovation, and improving the health needs of the surrounding community.
About Planetree
Planetree is a mission based not-for-profit organization that has partnered with over 700 healthcare organizations around the world and across the care continuum to transform how care is delivered. Powered by over 50,000 focus group attendees comprised of patients, families, and staff, and 40+ years of experience working with healthcare organizations, the Planetree approach emphasizes the quality of human interactions that occur within healthcare settings, the importance of connecting healthcare personnel to the purpose and meaning of their work, and practical strategies for engaging patients and family members as true partners in care. These elements have been consolidated into the Person-Centered Care Certification® Program, which provides organizations with a structured process to guide culture change. efforts that yield improvements in clinical and operational outcomes. Drawing on this experience, in 2017 Planetree partnered with the National Academy of Medicine to introduce an evidence-based Guiding Framework for Patient and Family Engaged Care.