Commission on Cancer of the American College of Surgeons Renews St. Claire HealthCare National Accreditation

The Commission on Cancer (CoC), a quality program of the American College of Surgeons (ACS) has once again, granted three-year accreditation to St. Claire HealthCare’s (SCH) cancer program. To earn voluntary CoC accreditation, a cancer program must be evaluated every three years through a survey process, meet 34 CoC quality care standards, and maintain levels of excellence in the delivery of comprehensive patient-centered care.

When cancer patients choose to seek care locally at a CoC-accredited cancer center, they gain access to comprehensive, state-of-the-art cancer care close to home. As a CoC-accredited cancer center, SCH’s team takes a multidisciplinary approach to treating cancer as a complex group of diseases that require consultation among surgeons, medical and radiation oncologists, diagnostic radiologists, pathologists, and other cancer specialists. This multidisciplinary partnership results in improved patient care.

“The Commission on Cancer establishes standards to ensure quality, multidisciplinary, and comprehensive cancer care delivery in health care settings,” said Ravneet Thind, MD, SCH Oncologist/Hematologist. “These standards focus on structure, process, and outcomes of cancer care. They aim to address the full continuum of cancer; from prevention to survivorship, to end-of-life care, while addressing both survival and quality of life. By adhering to these standards, we have been able to make a significant impact on cancer care in our community.”

The CoC Accreditation Program provides the framework for St. Claire HealthCare to improve its quality of patient care through various cancer-related programs that focus on the full spectrum of cancer care including prevention, early diagnosis, cancer staging, optimal treatment, rehabilitation, life-long follow-up for recurrent disease, and end-of-life care. When patients receive care at a CoC facility, they also have access to information on clinical trials and new treatments, genetic counseling, and patient-centered services including psycho-social support, a patient navigation process, and a survivorship care plan that documents the care each patient receives and seeks to improve cancer survivors’ quality of life.

“Their quality initiatives and addressing their barriers to care are very strong and are a testament of their continued commitment to their patients and the cancer care they deliver to their community,” said Samer Azzam Kanaan, MD, FACS, the CoC site reviewer for SCH.

Like all CoC-accredited facilities, SCH maintains a cancer registry and contributes data to the National Cancer Data Base (NCDB), a joint program of the CoC and the American Cancer Society. Data on all types of cancer are tracked and analyzed through the NCDB and used to explore trends in cancer care. CoC-accredited cancer centers, in turn, have access to information derived from this type of data analysis, which is used to create national, regional, and state benchmark reports. These reports help CoC facilities with their quality improvement efforts.

Established in 1922 by the American College of Surgeons, the CoC is a consortium of professional organizations dedicated to improving patient outcomes and quality of life for cancer patients through standard-setting, prevention, research, education, and the monitoring of comprehensive, quality care. Its membership includes Fellows of the American College of Surgeons.