Rapides Cancer Center is proud to celebrate 47 years of accreditation by the Commission on Cancer.
Cancer programs accredited by the Commission on Cancer provide communities with high-quality, multidisciplinary care based on patient-centered needs. CoC programs evolve in response to new diagnostic and treatment modalities, quality assurance and improvement initiatives. Most recently, accreditation focused on improved quality of care and patient outcomes.
Currently, there are nearly 1,500 CoC-accredited programs throughout the U.S.
To earn voluntary CoC accreditation, a cancer program must meet 34 CoC quality care standards, be evaluated every three years, and maintain levels of excellence in the delivery of comprehensive, patient-centered care.
Rapides 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 specialists.
“CoC accreditation challenges cancer programs to enhance the care they provide by addressing patient-centered needs and measuring the quality of care they delivery against national standards,” said Kevin Shows BSRT-N, Radiation Oncology Services.
When patients receive care at a CoC facility, they also have access to information on clinical trials and new treatments, genetic counseling, a patient navigation process and a survivorship care plan.
As part of its accreditation, Rapides 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. Data on all types of cancer are tracked and analyzed through the NCDB and used to explore trends in cancer care. In turn, Rapides Cancer Center has access to information derived from that data. These numbers help CoC facilities with quality improvement.
The American Cancer Society estimates that more than 1.7 million cases of cancer will be diagnosed in 2019. CoC accredited facilities will treat more than 70 percent of those patients. When cancer patients choose to be treated at a CoC cancer center they choose state-of-the-art cancer care close to home.
For cancer information anytime, day or night, call 1-800-ACS-2345 or visit www.cancer.org.