ACoS Commission on Cancer, PHCQA partner to make PA cancer quality data available to public

The American College of Surgeons (ACoS) Commission on Cancer (CoC) has joined with the Pennsylvania Health Care Quality Alliance (PHCQA) to make cancer quality data from participating Pennsylvania hospitals available to the public. The initiative, which is the first of its kind in the U.S., will include data from 72 percent (52 programs) of all CoC-accredited cancer programs in Pennsylvania.

"Participation in this project is an excellent opportunity for Commission on Cancer accredited programs in Pennsylvania to publicly demonstrate their dedication to quality and to validate their performance on national quality measures," CoC Chair Daniel P. McKellar, MD, FACS, said. "The Commission on Cancer applauds the Pennsylvania Health Care Quality Alliance for their commitment to improving the quality of health care by providing the public with valuable information regarding cancer treatment outcomes in Pennsylvania hospitals."

PHCQA chose to work with the CoC on this initiative because of the CoC's experience in developing and monitoring quality measures in its cancer programs, according to Dr. McKellar. He also said that this health care quality initiative is important for patients because it provides public access to quality data from participating facilities in Pennsylvania. Additionally, the website provides a list of CoC-accredited cancer centers in Pennsylvania.

"We commend the American College of Surgeons Commission on Cancer and the over 50 CoC-accredited facilities in Pennsylvania for their commitment to transparency and accountability. Partnering with them has afforded patients with a unique opportunity to examine which cancer programs are achieving high quality results through compliance with standards of care," Erik Muther, PHCQA Executive Director, said.

The National Cancer Database (NCDB), a nationwide oncology database operated by the American Cancer Society and Commission on Cancer, played an important role in making this collaboration happen. The NCDB staff was instrumental in developing the agreements from the participating facilities, recruiting facilities to participate, and reporting the data to the PHCQA, according to Dr. McKellar. He also noted that all CoC programs must report data on each cancer patient treated at their institutions. These are the data used to monitor compliance with the quality measures, which are specific cancer care recommendations utilized for quality improvement.

"The opportunity to leverage data from the National Cancer Database has allowed us to share evidence-based metrics that demonstrate adherence to high standards of care," said Mr. Muther.

SOURCE American College of Surgeons