The Franciscan Health cancer programs in Crown Point, Michigan City and Olympia Fields have earned three-year accreditation from the Commission on Cancer (CoC), a quality program of the American College of Surgeons (ACS).
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.
Franciscan Health’s CoC-accredited 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.
“This recognition attests to the hard work and commitment of the clinicians and support staff at all of our cancer programs,” said Dr. Mir Shah, radiation oncologist and cancer committee chair at Franciscan Health Patricia A. Joyce Comprehensive Cancer Institute Olympia Fields. “Our goal is to continue to improve the health outcomes of the patients we are privileged to serve.”
“As an accredited cancer center, Franciscan Health is committed to maintaining levels of excellence in the delivery of comprehensive, patient-centered care for patients with cancer. Patients can be confident that their care team includes health care professionals from a variety of disciplines who are committed to working together throughout the course of their treatment,” said Dr. Luke Miller, radiation oncologist and cancer committee chair at Franciscan Health Woodland Cancer Care Center Michigan City.
The CoC Accreditation Program provides the framework for Franciscan Health’s cancer programs to improve their 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 Franciscan Health cancer centers in Crown Point, Michigan City and Olympia Fields, they also have access to information on clinical trials and new treatments, genetic counseling,
and patient-centered services including psycho-social support, nurse navigation, 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, Franciscan Health 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.
The American Cancer Society estimates that more than 1.7 million cases of cancer are diagnosed annually in the U.S. There are currently more than 1,500 CoC-accredited cancer programs in the U.S. and Puerto Rico. CoC-accredited facilities diagnose and/or treat more than 70 percent of all newly diagnosed patients with cancer. “When cancer patients choose to seek care locally at a CoC-accredited cancer program, they are gaining access to state-of-the-art cancer care close to home,” said Dr. Mohamed Farhat, medical oncologist with Michiana Hematology Oncology and cancer committee chair at Franciscan Health Burrell Cancer Center Crown Point.
Established in 1922 by the American College of Surgeons, the CoC is a consortium of professional organizations dedicated to improving patient outcomes and quality of life for cancer patients through standard-setting, prevention, research, education, and the monitoring of comprehensive, quality care. Its membership includes Fellows of the American College of Surgeons. For more information, visit: www.facs.org/cancer
To learn more about cancer care services at Franciscan Health, click HERE.
