Monongahela Valley Hospital Cancer Program Accredited by ACoS

Updated on September 12, 2013

Monongahela Valley Hospital’s Charles L. and Rose Sweeney Melenyzer Pavilion and Regional Cancer Center earned a Three-Year National Accreditation from the Commission on Cancer (CoC) of the American College of Surgeons (ACoS).

Only 30 percent of the hospitals in the United States and Puerto Rico meet these guidelines and are accredited. CoC-accredited facilities diagnose and/or treat more than 70 percent of all newly diagnosed cancer patients and ACS estimates that more than 1.6 million cases of cancer will be diagnosed in 2013.  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 in their own communities.

To earn voluntary CoC accreditation, a cancer program must meet 34 CoC quality care standards, be evaluated every three years through a survey process and maintain levels of excellence in the delivery of comprehensive patient-centered care.

Because it is a CoC-accredited cancer center, MVH’s Regional Cancer Center takes 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.  This multidisciplinary partnership results in improved patient care.

“Our patients come to us because we have the latest treatments and therapies and the absolute most compassionate and talented medical team,” said Louis J. Panza Jr., president and CEO of MVH. “This accreditation affirms our efforts to provide our patients with the best care possible.”

MVH’s Regional Cancer Center provides the best 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 followup for recurrent disease, and end-of-life care.  When patients receive care at a CoC facility, they also have access to information on clinical trials and new treatments, genetic counseling and patient-centered services including psycho-social support, a patient navigation process and a survivorship care plan that documents the care each patient receives and seeks to improve cancer survivors’ quality of life.

Like all CoC-accredited facilities, MVH’s Regional Cancer Center 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 cancer is tracked and analyzed through the NCDB and used to explore trends in cancer care.  CoC-accredited cancer centers, in turn, have access to information derived from this type of data analysis, which is used to create national, regional, and state benchmark reports. These reports help CoC facilities with their quality improvement efforts.

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. For more information, visit: www.facs.org/cancer

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