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The Leon Hess Cancer Center’s Cancer Committee serves in
the key leadership role to plan, initiate, implement, evaluate
and improve all cancer-related activities at Monmouth Medical Center.
Physicians, nursing administrators, diagnostic and therapeutic
specialists, allied health professionals and representatives from
ancillary services comprise its multidisciplinary membership.
The committee convenes four times yearly, setting an agenda that
focused on the following area:
- Community outreach programs.
- Quality of cancer care outcomes.
- Disease and treatment specific performance measures.
- Educational events.
- Clinical research programs.
Monmouth Medical Center is among a distinguished group of hospitals
throughout the United States that has earned recognition from the
Commission on Cancer of the American College of Surgeons for offering
high-quality cancer care.
Only one in every four U.S. hospitals that treats cancer patients
has attained this prestigious “seal of approval” after
voluntarily undergoing a rigorous evaluation process and review
of performance every three years. And although this total represents
just 25 percent of all hospitals with cancer programs, it is estimated
that 80 percent of newly diagnosed cancer patients receive treatment
in these facilities.
 Monmouth Medical Center has successfully held “approval
with commendation” for its teaching hospital cancer program
from the Commission on Cancer for nearly 25 years — a distinction
it is striving to reaffirm during the next triennial on-site survey
to be conducted in October 2007.
In an ongoing initiative to uphold this premier status as one
of the nation’s leading academic cancer center, the Leon
Hess Cancer Center at Monmouth has concentrated efforts to ensure
it is in full compliance of a total of 36 commission standards.
To gain approval, it must demonstrate that patients receive the
following:
- Quality care close to home.
- Comprehensive care offering a range of state-of-the-art services
and equipment.
- A multidisciplinary team approach to coordinate the best cancer
treatment options available.
- Access to cancer-related information, education and support.
- A cancer registry that collects data on cancer type, stage
and treatment results, and offers lifelong patient follow-up.
- Ongoing monitoring and improvement of care.
- Information about clinical trials and new treatment options.
To retain Commission on Cancer accreditation as a “teaching
hospital cancer program,” Monmouth also must meet these
additional customized requirements for that select category of
approval:
- Be associated with a medical school. (Monmouth is a regional
medical campus of Drexel University College of Medicine, Philadelphia.)
- Offer at least four residency programs — two of which
must be medicine and surgery. (Monmouth offers a total of seven
accredited residency programs.)
- Provide a full range of cancer-related diagnostic and treatment
services, on-site or by referral.
- Have medical staff members that are board-certified in oncology
and other major medical specialties.
- Participate in clinical research.
Following its Commission on Cancer re-accreditation in 2004, the
Leon Hess Cancer Center set its sights on another ambitious goal
in preparation for its 2007 review.
In addition to working toward retaining its “approval with
commendation” designation, it began to forge ahead to attain
the commission’s highly coveted Outstanding Achievement Award — bestowed
upon only a small, elite group of hospitals each year for reaching
a new level of excellence in providing quality cancer care.
As a result, Monmouth must achieve a commendation rating — the
highest level of compliance — in all nine of the following
defined areas:
- Evaluation of patient outcomes that include documentation and
dissemination of results.
- Timely completion of patient case abstracts.
- Submission of data to the National Cancer Data Base that meets
its quality criteria.
- Appropriate staging of cancer in the medical record by the
managing physician or approved medical professional.
- Adherence to commission-required guidelines for patient management
and treatment in pathology reports.
- Required percentage of cases accrued to cancer-related clinical
trials.
- Availability of screening and early detection services either
on site or coordinated with outside agencies.
- Participation of cancer registry staff in local, state, regional
and national cancer-related activities.
- Ongoing implementation of quality or performance improvements.
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