Cancer Accreditation from the American College of Surgeons

West Palm Beach, Fla. (February 25, 2015) — The Cancer Institute at Good Samaritan Medical Center earns three-year accreditation from the Commission on Cancer (CoC) of the American College of Surgeons (ACoS) for maintaining levels of excellence in the delivery of comprehensive, patient-centered care.

For a cancer program to receive accreditation, it must meet 34 CoC quality care standards. 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 quality care.

"This accreditation demonstrates Good Samaritan Medical Center’s commitment to providing comprehensive, state-of-the-art care," said Mark Nosacka, hospital CEO. "Meeting these evidence-based measures affirms that we are continually serving the health needs of our community."

As a CoC-accredited cancer center, Good Samaritan Medical 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.

When patients receive care at a CoC facility, they 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 while seeking to improve cancer survivors’ quality of life.

Good Samaritan Medical 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 (ACS). This nationwide oncology outcomes database is the largest clinical disease registry in the world. Data on all types of cancer are tracked and analyzed through the NCDB and used to explore trends in cancer care. CoC-accredited cancer centers 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 Good Samaritan Medical Center with its quality improvement efforts.