American College of Surgeons grants Outstanding Achievement Award to 79 accredited cancer programs

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. In addition, the award is intended to:

• Recognize those cancer programs that achieve excellence in providing quality care to cancer patients.
• Motivate other cancer programs to work toward improving their level of care.
• Facilitate dialogue between award recipients and health care professionals at other cancer facilities for the purpose of sharing best practices.
• Encourage honorees to serve as quality-care resources to other cancer programs.

"More and more, we're finding that patients and their families want to know how the health care institutions in their communities compare with one another," said Daniel P. McKellar, MD, FACS, Chair of the CoC. "They want access to information in terms of who's providing the best quality of care, and they want to know about overall patient outcomes. Through this recognition program, I'd like to think we're playing a small, but vital role, in helping them make informed decisions on their cancer care."

The 79 award-winning, cancer-care programs represent approximately 19 percent of programs surveyed by the CoC in 2012. A majority of recipients are community-based facilities. However, teaching hospitals, National Cancer Institute-designated Comprehensive Cancer Centers, Veterans Administration hospitals, and Network Cancer Programs also received this year's award.

"These 79 cancer programs surveyed in 2012 currently represent the best of the best—so to speak—when it comes to cancer care," added Dr. McKellar. "Each of these facilities is not just meeting nationally recognized standards for the delivery of quality cancer care, they are exceeding them."