FAYETTEVILLE, NC – November 13, 2020 - Cape Fear Valley Health has earned accreditation from the Commission on Cancer (CoC), a quality program of the American College of Surgeons (ACS). It is a three-year accreditation.
To earn voluntary CoC accreditation, a Hospital’s Cancer Program must meet 34 quality care standards, be evaluated every three years through a survey process and maintain levels of excellence in the delivery of comprehensive, patient-centered cancer care.
As a CoC-accredited cancer center, Cape Fear Valley Health 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 multidisciplinary cancer conference teams meet at least six times a month – in the early morning, over lunch, and after the clinics have closed for the day,” said Melissa Nist, Cape Fear Valley Oncology Accreditation and Quality Coordinator, “to make sure that each patient receives the best care possible. It is our way of ensuring that Cancer Center patients benefit from the collective expertise of all of our team members, including not only physicians, but also physical therapists, nurses, patient navigators, and medical residents. Each care plan is individualized to meet the unique needs of the patient. This level of care would not be possible without the dedication of our cancer care team and the support of administration.”
The CoC Accreditation Program provides the framework for Cape Fear Valley 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. 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 including 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.
Like all CoC-accredited facilities, Cape Fear Valley maintains a cancer registry and 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.
The American Cancer Society estimates that more than 1.8 million cases of cancer will be diagnosed in 2020. There are currently more than 1,500 CoC-accredited cancer programs in the U.S. and Puerto Rico, CoC-accredited facilities diagnose and/or treat more than 70 percent of all newly diagnosed patients with cancer. When cancer 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. The CoC provides the public with information on the resources, services, and cancer treatment experience for each CoC-accredited cancer program through the CoC Hospital Locator at facs.org/search/cancer-programs.
Media contact for Cape Fear Valley: Chaka Jordan, 910-615-6098 or cgjordan@capefearvalley.com.
About the Commission on Cancer
Established in 1922 by the American College of Surgeons, the CoC is a consortium of professional organizations dedicated to improving patient outcomes and quality of life for cancer patients through standard-setting, prevention, research, education and the monitoring of comprehensive, quality care. Its membership includes Fellows of the American College of Surgeons. For more information, visit: www.facs.org/cancer.
About Cape Fear Valley Health System
Cape Fear Valley Health is a 950-bed health system serving a region of more than 800,000 people in Southeastern North Carolina. The not-for-profit system is the state’s 8th largest health system and made up of 7,000 team members and 850 physicians, eight hospitals, and more than 60 primary care and specialty clinics. Cape Fear Valley Health offers residencies in emergency medicine, internal medicine, obstetrics and gynecology, psychiatry and general surgery, as well as a transitional year internship in affiliation with the Jerry M. Wallace School of Osteopathic Medicine at Campbell University. For more information, visit www.CapeFearValley.com.