Calais Regional Medical Services (CRMS) orthopedic and surgical physician practices received a national award for 2006 patient satisfaction scores. Avatar International Inc., a leader in measuring customer expectations in healthcare, presented CRMS with the Five Star Service Award in May. CRMS’ scores were among the highest in the nation for physician practices. In making the announcement, Dr. Michael Everet, Avatar Founder and CEO said, "All medical centers in the U.S. expend significant energy improving the quality of care and the patient experience. Given such competition, the CRMS physician office staff are to be applauded for being a top performer for physician offices in the United States." Ray H. Davis Jr., CRH CEO, acknowledged, "this recognition is a credit to all of the staff that work in the orthopedic and surgery practices. The people that make this possible are the ones who meet and interact with the patients every day."

Angela Gorman,(l) Avatar Director of Client Services, presented Andrea Driscoll,(r) RN, CRMS Quality Manager, with the Five Star Service Award for scores among the highest in the nation for physician practices in 2006.

CRMS is owned and operated by Calais Regional Hospital. As part of the CRH family, the physician practices were added to the patient surveying process in 2004. The remaining area of CRMS, the Rural Health Clinic, will be incorporated into theAvatar patient survey process by July of this year. The Rural Health Clinic incorporates the specialities of Internal Medicine, Family Practice, Pediatrics and OB/GYN services. Patient surveys are a source of feedback that identifies both excellence in care as well as opportunities for improvement. DeeDee Travis, CRH Community Relations and Development Director stated, "Through the patient survey process, we understand patients’ expectations for service quality. Our surveys are very important to our hospital and physician practices to help us understand, monitor, and exceed our patients’ expectations. For this reason we encourage all of our patients to complete a survey when they receive it." Started in 1981, Avatar has earned its reputation as one of the leaing quality improvement firms in the world. As such, Avatar has assisted more U.S. National Baldridge Quality Award winners than any other patient survey company. Today, Avatar’s patient survey process is recognized as one of the top in the United States.