OGDENSBURG -- Claxton-Hepburn Medical Center’s Richard E. Winter Cancer Center has received a 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, CHMC said in a news release.

Additionally, the center was granted the CoC’s 2019 Outstanding Achievement Award, which was given to a select group of 48 accredited cancer programs throughout the United States. Award criteria were based on qualitative and quantitative surveys of cancer programs conducted throughout the year. The purpose of the award is to raise the bar on quality cancer care, with the ultimate goal of increasing awareness about quality care choices among cancer patients and their loved ones, according to CHMC.

“Because it is a CoC-accredited cancer center, the Winter 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 cancer specialists. This multidisciplinary partnership results in improved patient care,” a news release from CHMC said. “The CoC Accreditation Program provides the framework for the Winter Cancer Center to improve 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 follow-up for recurrent disease, and end-of-life care.”

Like all CoC-accredited facilities, the Winter Cancer Center maintains a cancer registry. It 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, CHMC said.

The Winter center has a page on CHMC’s website at www.claxtonhepburn.org/cancer.

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