Baptist Health Paducah radiation oncology earns reaccreditation

Baptist Health Paducah radiation oncology department, the first in Kentucky to be accredited 20 years ago, has been reaccredited for three years by the American College of Radiology.

Baptist Health Paducah radiation oncology department, the first in Kentucky to be accredited 20 years ago, has been reaccredited for three years by the American College of Radiology.

Accreditation, representing the highest level of quality and patient safety, is awarded only to facilities who meet ACR guidelines following an on-site evaluation by radiation oncologists and physician experts.

“This means our radiation therapy meets the nation’s highest standards for quality, but radiation therapy is just one component of our comprehensive cancer program, which is fully-accredited,” radiation oncologist Peter Locken, MD, said. “We track outcomes and survival of all of our patients with a multi-disciplinary approach. For anyone with cancer, this means all of our cancer care is among the nation’s best.”

The 12,000-square-foot H. Earl Feezor Radiation Therapy Center is part of the Ray & Kay Eckstein Regional Cancer Care Center, which opened to patients in 2017 and consolidated a variety of cancer services from across the hospital campus into one location.

Baptist became the region’s first nationally-accredited multidisciplinary cancer program in 2001, following radiation oncology’s first accreditation in 1998. Recent technology upgrades have included da Vinci robotic surgery, 3-D mammography and stereotactic radiosurgery, which can reduce radiation treatment from weeks to days.