Huntsman Cancer Institute (HCI) at the University of Utah (U of U) received a three-year renewal of its accreditation by the Commission on Cancer, a quality program of the American College of Surgeons. HCI earned this renewal following a process that evaluates 34 quality care standards identified as best practice indicators to ensure excellence in the delivery of comprehensive, patient-centered cancer care.
The accreditation recognizes hospitals that take 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.
"We appreciate this recognition to support this type of sophisticated care planning that is embedded in our culture at HCI. This includes access to best-practice cancer treatment plans along with clinical trials, genetic counseling, survivorship planning, new treatments and technology—among many other services," said John Ward, MD, interim physician-in-chief at HCI and professor of medicine at the U of U. "We firmly believe that by working together with our care teams and our patients, we can deliver the best possible results for those we serve."
As a Commission on Cancer-accredited facility, HCI maintains a cancer registry and contributes data to the National Cancer Data Base (NCDB), a joint program of the American College of Surgeons and American Cancer Society. The NCDB 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. In contributing data, HCI has access to the data analysis used to create national, regional, and state benchmark reports.
The HCI accreditation is overseen by Ward; Cindy Matsen, MD, a breast cancer surgeon at HCI and assistant professor of surgery at the U of U; and Alyson Harding, administrative director at HCI. Established in 1922, the Commission on Cancer 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.