Press Release
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
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Publication Specialist
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Director of Community Relations
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Today's Date: February 18, 2008
Commission on Cancer awards Mercy Cancer Center
3-year recertification with commendation
HOT SPRINGS, Ark. – The Commission on Cancer (CoC) of the American College of Surgeons (ACoS) has once again awarded the Mercy Cancer Center at St. Joseph’s Mercy Health Center a three-year Comprehensive Community Cancer Program recertification with commendation.
The three-year approval with commendation followed a physician surveyor’s successful on-site evaluation of the Mercy Cancer Center, which has held the prestigious CoC accreditation since 1992. During the successful visit, the Center demonstrated a commendation level of compliance with one or more standards that represent the full scope of the cancer program, including its committee leadership, data management, clinical services, research, community outreach and quality improvement.
Established by the ACoS in 1922, the CoC Approvals Program sets standards for cancer programs, and then reviews the programs to make sure the standards are being followed. The Approval Program, in an effort to improve patient care, promotes collaboration between surgeons, medical and radiation oncologists, diagnostic radiologists, pathologists and other specialists.
In accordance with those standards set forth by the Approvals Program and to oversee compliancy, a Cancer Care Committee was established at the inception of the Mercy Cancer Center’s cancer program. Both the physician and non-physician members of the committee are committed to providing quality care to the patients served.
Benefits of the program’s three-year recertification include state-of-the-art services, comprehensive quality care offered close to home by one network system, a multidisciplinary approach to determining the best treatment options, access to cancer-related education and support within one system, clinical trials information, the monitoring of cancer patient outcomes via network data collected by the cancer registries of all involved facilities, ongoing cancer clinical trials information and new treatment options, participation in the National Cancer Data Base (NCDB) and recognition by other healthcare organizations nationwide as having established high-quality cancer care performance measures across the network continuum.
Following are five areas where the Mercy Cancer Center – according to the CoC Approvals Program – demonstrated a commendation level of compliance:
- Outcomes analysis – An annual report of cancer program activity, including statistical information, was published by the Cancer Care committee.
- Quality of NCDB data submissions – Data submissions to the NCDB met the quality criteria.
- Prevention and early detection – St. Joseph’s offered annual skin and prostate screenings.
- Cancer Registry staff education – The Certified Tumor Registrar attended a national cancer-related educational activity every third year and all other Registry staff members participated in annual local, state, regional or national meetings.
- Cancer-related improvements – More than two improvements that directly affected cancer patient care were implemented and documented each year.
A member of the Sisters of Mercy Health System, St. Joseph’s is a not-for-profit Catholic hospital and two-time recipient of the large-company Gold Award at the Governor’s Family Friendly Employer Awards ceremony in the spring of 2006 and 2007. For further information on the Arkansas Governor’s Family Friendly Employer awards, as well as services and employment opportunities offered by St. Joseph’s, please visit saintjosephs.com.
