The Commission on Cancer (CoC) of the American College of Surgeons (ACoS) has granted Three-Year Accreditation with Silver Commendation to Memorial Hermann Cancer Centers.
“Accreditation by the Commission on Cancer is a testament to the strength of our cancer program and illustrates the scope and caliber of services we provide to the community,” said Sandy Miller, senior vice president of cancer services at Memorial Hermann. “It also demonstrates our commitment to guide our patients through every step of their journey – from prevention, screening, diagnosis, treatment and beyond to survivorship.”
To earn voluntary CoC accreditation, Memorial Hermann Cancer Centers must meet or exceed 34 CoC quality care standards, be evaluated every three years through a survey process, and maintain levels of excellence in the delivery of comprehensive patient-centered care. Three-Year Accreditation with Commendation is only awarded to a facility that exceeds standard requirements at the time of its triennial survey.
Because it is CoC-accredited, Memorial Hermann Cancer Centers take a multidisciplinary approach to treating cancer as a complex group of diseases that requires consultation among surgeons, medical and radiation oncologists, diagnostic radiologists, pathologists, and other cancer specialists. This multidisciplinary partnership results in improved patient care.
The CoC Accreditation Program provides the framework for Memorial Hermann Cancer Centers to improve 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.
Like all CoC-accredited facilities, Memorial Hermann Cancer Centers maintain a cancer registry and contribute data to the National Cancer Data Base (NCDB), a joint program of the CoC and American Cancer Society (ACS). This nationwide oncology outcomes database is the largest clinical disease registry in the world. 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.
ACS estimates that more than 1.6 million cases of cancer will be diagnosed in 2016. There are currently more than 1,500 CoC-accredited cancer programs in the U.S. and Puerto Rico, representing 30 percent of all hospitals. CoC-accredited facilities diagnose and/or treat more than 70 percent of all newly diagnosed cancer patients. When cancer patients choose to seek care locally at a CoC-accredited cancer center, they are gaining access to comprehensive, state-of-the-art cancer care close to home. The CoC provides the public with information on the resources, services, and cancer treatment experience for each CoC-accredited cancer program through the CoC Hospital Locator at http://www.facs.org/cancerprogram/index.html.
Memorial Hermann Cancer Centers are committed to cancer treatment, prevention, and research. Broad geographical coverage, with eight locations in the greater Houston area including the Texas Medical Center, Memorial City, Katy, Southeast, Southwest, Greater Heights, The Woodlands and Northeast, makes cancer treatment extremely accessible and convenient to where patients live or work. For more information, visit www.memorialhermann.org/cancer/.