UC Medical Center Receives 3-Year Reaccreditation From Commission on Cancer

CINCINNATI—University of Cincinnati Medical Center, a care facility part of the UC Cancer Institute, has received a three-year reaccreditation from the American College of Surgeons’ Commission on Cancer (CoC). 

UC Medical Center was first accredited in 1934, making it one of the five oldest CoC-accredited cancer programs in the country. The CoC is a nationally recognized multidisciplinary accreditation program which develops comprehensive, patient-centered standards for all accredited cancer programs. 

The center’s accreditation is in the category of Academic Comprehensive Cancer Program, which means that it provides postgraduate medical education, sees more than 500 newly diagnosed cancer cases per year, possesses a full range of diagnostic and treatment services and participates in cancer-related clinical research through a clinical trials program.

"We’re very pleased that our expertise is being recognized again by the Commission on Cancer,” says Jeffrey Sussman, MD, professor in the Department of Surgery at the UC College of Medicine, UC Health surgical oncologist and chair of the CoC accreditation committee. "This accreditation, which is valid through the spring of 2018, is evidence of our excellence in state-of-the-art diagnosis, treatment and follow-up cancer care as well as our unique multidisciplinary tumor boards, tumor registry, educational initiatives for faculty, staff and members of the community and quality improvement programs.”

Sussman says that the cancer program was evaluated via an on-site survey, where a comprehensive evaluation of the entire scope of services, organization and activity of the program was completed. A physician surveyor, specially trained to evaluate compliance with the 34 standards required for accreditation, performed the evaluation in June.

"We also completed a Web-based application, called the Web-enabled Survey Application Record, which provides background on programmatic changes since the last survey,” he says. 

"This truly speaks to the exceptional clinicians as well as research and educational programs we have within our institution,” says William Barrett, MD, director of the institute, faculty member at UC and a radiation oncologist. "This is further confirmation that patients within our institute will receive the best, most science-driven treatments available.”