Baptist Health Madisonville cancer program earns national re-accreditation
Baptist Health Madisonville cancer program earns national re-accreditation
For Immediate Release
Baptist Health Madisonville cancer program earns national re-accreditation
(Madisonville, Ky.) December 19, 2019 – Baptist Health Madisonville’s cancer program earned a three-year re-accreditation by The Commission on Cancer (CoC), a quality program of the American College of Surgeons (ACS).
To earn accreditation a cancer program must meet 34 CoC quality standards, be evaluated every three years through a survey process, and maintain levels of excellence in the delivery of comprehensive patient-centered care. Baptist Health Madisonville is Kentucky’s oldest community hospital cancer program to consistently hold accreditation by the CoC.
Baptist Health Madisonville offers a full-service cancer program with excellence in diagnostic and treatment-related services, a multidisciplinary approach to care, patient support and community education and outreach.
The CoC Accreditation Program provides the framework for Baptist Health Madisonville 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.
Baptist Health Madisonville President Robert Ramey explains, “We are proud to be able to provide world-class cancer care to our local western Kentucky communities. This accreditation confirms our commitment to offering advanced technology with personalized care close to home where our patients prefer to be with their support networks.”
Like all CoC-accredited facilities, Baptist Health Madisonville 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 cancers is tracked and analyzed through the NCDB and used to explore trends in cancer care.
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, including information on clinical trials, new treatments and genetic counseling,” said Diana Jackson, MSN, RN, OCN, director of oncology, palliative care and ambulatory care at Baptist Health Madisonville. “Our staff gives 100 percent each day to guarantee our oncology patients receive the very best care possible.”
The Merle M. Mahr Cancer Center also provides patient-centered services including psychosocial support, patient and financial navigation assistance as well as a survivorship program that seeks to improve the quality of life for cancer survivors.
For more information about the cancer program at Baptist Health Madisonville, phone 270.825.5800.
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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: https://www.facs.org/quality-programs/cancer-programs/commission-on-cancer/