The Commission on Cancer (CoC), a quality program of the American College of Surgeons (ACS) has granted Three-Year Accreditation to the cancer program at Catholic Medical Center (CMC). To earn voluntary CoC accreditation, a cancer program must meet 34 CoC quality care standards, be evaluated every three years through an onsite survey process, and maintain levels of excellence in the delivery of comprehensive cancer patient-centered care.
As a CoC-accredited cancer center, CMC takes 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.
“From state of the art diagnostics at our Breast Care Center and in our Diagnostic Imaging Department, right through our BeWell Cancer Survivorship Program, I’m proud of the excellence we offer patients and their families during the most challenging time of their lives,” said Dr. Joseph Pepe, President & CEO of Catholic Medical Center. “The Cancer Program at CMC has been accredited by the COC since 1976, a testament to our mission of providing health, healing, and hope.”
The CoC Accreditation Program provides the framework for CMC 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.
In addition to the services offered directly by CMC, the hospital partners with Dartmouth-Hitchcock’s nationally-recognized Norris Cotton Cancer Center, which offers onsite chemotherapy and clinical trials at the Notre Dame Pavilion on the CMC campus. Recently, CMC launched in partnership with Dartmouth-Hitchcock, the BeWell Cancer Survivorship Program, which offers comfort, support, and wellness services to patients who are or have gone through cancer treatment.
The American Cancer Society estimates that more than 1.6 million cases of cancer will be diagnosed in 2016. When cancer patients choose to seek care locally through one of the nation’s 1,500 CoC-accredited cancer programs, 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 https://www.facs.org/search/cancer-programs.