UI Health Earns Full Accreditation from the Commission on Cancer
Tuesday, July 16, 2019
The UI Health Cancer Clinic has again been granted full accreditation by the Commission on Cancer (CoC), a nationally recognized program that develops comprehensive, patient-centered standards for cancer programs.
The three-year accreditation by the CoC, a program administered by the American College of Surgeons, recognizes UI Health as a provider of a full spectrum of cancer care, including prevention, early diagnosis, cancer staging, optimal treatment, rehabilitation, lifelong follow-up for recurrent disease, and end-of-life care. Patients at CoC facilities like UI Health also have access to information on clinical trials and new treatments, genetic counseling, and various patient-centered services. UI Health first received CoC accreditation in 2016.
To earn accreditation, a cancer program must meet 34 quality-care standards across five disciplines: program management, clinical services, continuum of care, patient outcomes, and data quality. Further, accredited programs must undergo evaluation by a survey process every three years and maintain excellence in the delivery of comprehensive, patient-centered care.
As an accredited facility, UI Health maintains a cancer registry and contributes data to the National Cancer Database. This nationwide oncology-outcomes database is the largest clinical disease registry in the world and is used to track, analyze, and explore trends in cancer care.
Accredited programs like UI Health take a multidisciplinary approach to cancer care, relying on coordination among surgeons, medical and radiation oncologists, diagnostic radiologists, pathologists, and other cancer specialists to treat cancer as a complex group of diseases, resulting in improved patient care.
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.
Visit the UI Health Cancer Clinic to more about our cancer services.
