Jacksonville, Fla. (PRWEB) May 05, 2015
Baptist Medical Center Jacksonville’s cancer program has received reaccreditation from the Commission on Cancer (CoC) of the American College of Surgeons.
To earn the three-year accreditation, a cancer program must meet more than 30 Commission on Cancer 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.
When 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.
Because it is a CoC-accredited cancer center, Baptist Jacksonville 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.
“Our mission at Baptist Health and the Hill Breast Center is to improve the lives of those in our communities,” said Linda Allen, Baptist Health director of Women’s Imaging Services. “We appreciate the recognition from the Commission on Cancer of the American College of Surgeons and the dedication of all our team members who strive to live that mission every day.”
Mark E. Augspurger, MD, radiation oncologist with Baptist Health, who is also the cancer liaison physician for the cancer program at Baptist, said institutions must be evaluated in a wide variety of areas to receive accreditation from the initial patient work up through the survivorship plan.
“The evaluation can be rigorous for cancer programs that are as robust as the program at Baptist Health,” Dr. Augspurger said. “Not only must data be collected from our Baptist area hospitals, but information must be compiled from a variety of advanced services including women's health, radiation oncology, medical oncology, tumor registry, psychosocial services, rehabilitation services and community outreach, to name a few. The preparation for this evaluation was an enormous task that required a dedicated team. As a treating physician in the Baptist Health system, I am confident that we are one of the premier cancer institutions in the region, but it’s reassuring to know that this belief is validated by our reaccreditation through the CoC."
The CoC Accreditation Program provides the framework for Baptist Jacksonville to enhance 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 followup 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. Those services include 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.
“Participation in the Commission on Cancer accreditation process is just one of the commitments Baptist Health has made as we embark on our partner journey with MD Anderson Cancer Center, which is scheduled to open in the fall,” said LeeAnn Mengel, administrator for oncology services at Baptist Health. “We are committed to having a program in place that provides the Jacksonville and surrounding communities with oncology expertise second to none in the area.”
Like all CoC-accredited facilities, Baptist Jacksonville maintains a cancer registry and contributes data to the National Cancer Data Base (NCDB), a joint program of the CoC and American Cancer Society (ACS). 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. There are currently more than 1,500 CoC-accredited cancer programs in the U.S. and Puerto Rico, representing 30 percent of all hospitals.
Baptist Medical Center Jacksonville and its Hill Breast Center also this year earned the 2015 Women’s Choice Award as one of America’s Best Breast Centers. The Hill Breast Center is the only dedicated breast center of its size in the region. The Women’s Choice Award acknowledges Hill Breast Center’s dedication to providing exceptional patient care and treatment for the second consecutive year. The breast center meets the National Accreditation Program for Breast Centers (NAPBC) standards from the American College of Surgeons. The NAPBC is a consortium of national, professional organizations focused on breast health and dedicated to the improvement of quality care and outcomes of patients with diseases of the breast through evidence-based standards and patient and professional education. As one of America’s Best Breast Centers, Baptist Medical Center Jacksonville and the Hill Breast Center also carry the Seal of the American College of Radiologists as a Breast Imaging Center of Excellence, and scored above-average on the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services patient satisfaction measures.
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About Baptist Health
Baptist Health is a faith-based, mission-driven system in Northeast Florida comprised of Baptist Medical Center Jacksonville; Baptist Medical Center Beaches; Baptist Medical Center Nassau; Baptist Medical Center South; Baptist Clay Medical Campus and Wolfson Children’s Hospital – the region’s only children’s hospital. All Baptist Health hospitals, along with Baptist Home Health Care, have achieved Magnet™ status for excellence in patient care. Baptist Health includes the area’s only dedicated heart hospital; cancer centers; orthopedic institute; women’s services; neurological institute, including comprehensive neurosurgical services, a comprehensive stroke center and two primary stroke centers; a Bariatric Center of Excellence; a full range of psychology and psychiatry services; outpatient facilities; urgent care services; and primary and specialty care physicians’ offices throughout Northeast Florida. For more details, visit baptistjax.com. For information on Wolfson Children’s Hospital, visit http://www.wolfsonchildrens.org.