KEYSTONE HEALTH CENTER RECEIVES THE UNISON HEALTH PLAN OF PENNSYLVANIA GOLD STAR AWARD FOR EXCELLENCE   Jennifer Kessler, president of Unison; Joanne Cochran, president and CEO of Keystone; Dr. Iwona Janicka, medical director of Keystone; and Dr. Joseph Sheridan, medical director for Unison (Chambersburg, PA) --  Joanne Cochran, cofounder, president, and CEO of Keystone Health Center in Chambersburg, PA, and Iwona Janicka, M.D., medical director of Keystone, accepted Unison Health Plan’s 2007 Gold Star award at a ceremony on Friday, April 13, at the Hershey Lodge in Hershey, PA.  Unison, a leader among public-sector health plans, developed the Gold Star program to reward primary care providers for their professional excellence as physicians.  Mrs. Cochran and Dr. Janicka accepted the award on behalf of Keystone Health Center, a 501(c)3, Joint Commission accredited Community Health Center that has been serving the community for over 20 years.  In presenting the award, Dr. Joseph Sheridan, medical director for Unison said, “You’re here tonight because you have been available and accessible to our members, you have worked to prevent illness via immunization and education, you screen for signs of potential or impending illness, and you minimize the impact of non-preventable illness.”  The physicians and staff of Keystone Health Center met or exceeded numerous benchmarks in categories such as quality of care, effective health care delivery and promotion of best practices, accessibility to patients and administrative efficiency.  “This award represents the highest level of professionalism and dedication to your patients and we couldn’t be more pleased to recognize you for your achievements,” said Jennifer Kessler, president of Unison.  The Unison Gold Star program measures performance through year-long cycles.  There were 109 Gold Star providers and practices for 2007 with the Gold Star providers treating more than 90,000 Unison members. Keystone Health Center provides high-quality family medicine, internal medicine, pediatric, obstetric, gynecological, cardiac, behavioral, and dental health care and, when needed, social services to anyone in the community including the underserved and vulnerable populations. No one is turned away due to inability to pay. Keystone now operates five full-time primary care practices—Keystone Family/Internal Medicine, Keystone Behavioral Health, Keystone Dental Care, Keystone Women's Care, and Franklin County Pediatrics—and one full-time specialty practice, the Franklin County Heart Center. Keystone also operates one year-round migrant and seasonal farmworker site in Berks County and one seasonal farmworker site in Adams County. Services to migrant farmworkers are also provided through outreach workers and contracted providers across the Commonwealth.  For more information regarding Keystone Health Center, please visit the website at www.keystonehealth.org. For more information regarding this news release, please contact Dawn Stinson at (717) 217-6002.                ###

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