Mercy Health – Lorain’s cancer program earned a three-year reaccreditation from the American College of Surgeons’ (ACS) Commission on Cancer (CoC). The program has held this accreditation since 1991. This accreditation recognizes Mercy Health – Lorain’s delivery of high-quality, innovative patient care through its various cancer-related programs that focus on the full spectrum of cancer care, including prevention, early diagnosis, cancer staging, optimal treatment, rehabilitation, lifelong follow-up for recurrent disease and end-of-life care.
“Mercy Health – Lorain is committed to providing our patients high-quality, compassionate cancer care close to home. From cancer screenings, genetic risk assessment and testing to radiation therapy, chemotherapy and surgical options, our team provides personalized, innovative care to each of our patients. This accreditation underscores that dedication and it is an important step forward in providing high-quality cancer care to our community,” says David Barron, MD, medical director, oncology service line and radiation oncology for Mercy Health – Lorain.
To earn this CoC accreditation, a cancer program must meet 36 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. When patients receive care at a CoC facility, they have access to information on clinical trials or new treatments, genetic counseling and patient-centered services, including psycho-social support, a patient navigation process and a survivorship care plan that records the care each patient receives and seeks to improve a survivor's quality of life.
Like all other CoC-accredited facilities, Mercy Health – Lorain maintains a cancer registry and provides data to the National Cancer Data Base (NCDB), which is a joint program of the CoC and ACS and is the largest clinical disease registry in the world. This data is analyzed through the NCDB and used to explore trends in cancer care and create national, regional and state benchmark reports.