WILLIAMSVILLE, NY (Wednesday, January 25, 2023)—The Commission on Cancer (CoC), a quality program of the American College of Surgeons (ACS) has granted Three-Year Accreditation to the cancer program at Millard Fillmore Suburban Hospital (MFSH). 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, MFSH, partner of Great Lakes Cancer Care Collaborative (GLCCC), 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.
Millard Suburban has been providing incredible cancer care for many years,” said Judy Baumgartner, president Millard Fillmore Suburban Hospital. “This national accreditation has elevated our programs and services to a new level over the last three years, ensuring we are delivering the best cancer care that meets the highest quality care standards. Becoming a CoC-accredited facility further demonstrates our commitment to providing our community access to the best cancer care.”
The CoC Accreditation Program provides the framework for MFSH 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. 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.
“We are extremely proud of the team at Millard Fillmore Suburban,” said Victor Filadora, MD, president, Great Lakes Cancer Care Collaborative. “Achieving Commission on Cancer Accreditation exemplifies the programs at Suburban meet the highest quality oncology care standards.”
Like all CoC-accredited facilities, Millard Fillmore Suburban 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 are 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.
The American Cancer Society estimates that more than 1.7 million cases of cancer will be diagnosed in 2018. 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 close to home. The CoC provides the public with information on the resources, services, and cancer treatment experience for each CoC-accredited cancer program through the CoC Hospital Locator at https://www.facs.org/search/cancer-programs.
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: www.facs.org/cancer
About Millard Fillmore Suburban Hospital
Millard Fillmore Suburban Hospital is a 265-bed community hospital and a subsidiary of Kaleida Health, Western New York’s largest health care provider. The hospital offers services in emergency medicine, family practice, general surgery, internal medicine, geriatrics, minimally invasive and robotic surgery, neonatology, obstetrics and gynecology, oncology, orthopedics, otolaryngology, and urology. The hospital also supports residency-training programs of the University at Buffalo School of Medicine and Biomedical Sciences in anesthesiology, emergency medicine, general surgery, urology, obstetrics and gynecology, and family practice. For more information, visit www.millardfillmoresuburban.org
