UC Health's Bone Marrow Transplant Program Receives FACT Accreditation

The UC Health George L. Strike Bone Marrow Transplant Center located in the Hoxworth Building on UC’s medical campus has received accreditation from the Foundation for the Accreditation of Cellular Therapy (FACT).

FACT is an internationally recognized accrediting body for hospitals and medical institutions offering therapies that use adult stem cells, like bone marrow transplants and peripheral blood transplants for patients with blood cancers and diseases.

"We believe that this accreditation will make patients aware that our facility strives to achieve the highest quality care for cellular therapy treatment programs,” says Elias Anaissie, MD, director of the Hematologic Malignancies/Bone Marrow Transplant Program and John & Gladys Strauss Endowed Chair in Cancer Research and professor at UC. "Accreditation displays our commitment to continual improvement.”

FACT, a nonprofit corporation co-founded in 1996 by the International Society for Cellular Therapy and the American Society of Blood and Marrow Transplantation, establishes standards for high-quality medical and laboratory practice in cellular therapies. FACT standards are evidence-based requirements set by experts vested in the improvement and progress of cellular therapy.

FACT accreditation means that programs with this distinction have met the most rigorous standards in all aspects of stem cell therapy.

The UC Cancer Institute Hematologic Malignancies and BMT team as an extension of the center includes hematology oncology specialists who focus exclusively on blood cancers as well as dedicated radiation oncologists, cancer and bone marrow transplant-trained hospitalists, pathologists, oncology nurse practitioners and nurses, pharmacists, dietitians, oncology social workers, a nurse educator for patients and caregivers and a director for clinical quality management. 

The team provides "one-stop” outpatient care which also comprises on-site testing, clinical visits with physicians and nurse practitioners, outpatient stem cell collection, outpatient chemotherapy and outpatient bone marrow and stem cell transplantation.

"Our philosophy is based on individualized, patient-specific treatment and is driven by the patient’s holistic needs—medical, spiritual and emotional. All treatment decisions are made as a partnership between the care team and the patient and family, throughout initial evaluation and treatment,” says Anaissie.