Mary Bird Perkins – OLOL Cancer Center Earns National Accreditation

The Commission on Cancer (CoC), a quality program of the American College of Surgeons (ACS), has granted Three-Year Accreditation with Gold-level Commendation to Mary Bird Perkins – Our Lady of the Lake Cancer Center. To earn voluntary CoC accreditation, a cancer program must meet 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.

As a CoC-accredited facility for more than 20 years, the Cancer Center 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. 

“Clinical excellence is driven by every physician and staff member,” said John Lyons, MD, chair of the Cancer Center’s Cancer Committee, the multidisciplinary leadership body that provides support in maintaining compliance with CoC standards. “I commend our entire team for their commitment to providing the highest level of care to patients from diagnosis, to selecting the appropriate treatment based on national guidelines, to the transition of survivorship.”

Like all CoC-accredited facilities, the Cancer Center maintains a cancer registry and contributes data to the National Cancer Data Base (NCDB), a joint program of the CoC and American Cancer Society. 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.  

“We are proud to be a part of this shared effort to enhance cancer care throughout the region for more than 20 years,” said Linda Lee, Cancer Center administrator. “But our greatest satisfaction comes from knowing that outstanding care results in opportunities for enhanced patient outcomes. There is an honored, trusted partnership between our team and our patients and their families, and we appreciate and respect this relationship.”

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 https://www.facs.org/search/cancer-programs

07/20/2017