Flaget Memorial Hospital Earns National Accreditation With Commendation From The Commission on Cancer of The American College of Surgeons - Archived

Flaget Memorial Hospital Earns National Accreditation with Commendation from the Commission on Cancer of the American College of Surgeons

Bardstown, Ky. (September 9, 2014)—The Commission on Cancer (CoC) of the American College of Surgeons (ACoS) has granted three-year accreditation with commendation to KentuckyOne Health Cancer Care at Flaget Memorial Hospital, part of KentuckyOne Health.

To earn voluntary CoC accreditation, a cancer program must meet or exceed 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. Three-year accreditation with commendation is only awarded to a facility that exceeds standard requirements at the time of its triennial survey. 

KentuckyOne Health Cancer Care at Flaget Memorial Hospital, formerly known as Flaget Cancer Center, provides full support and cancer care including medical oncology and radiation oncology to patients in Nelson and surrounding counties. It is the community’s first full-service cancer care program and the first in the region to offer radiation oncology.

Flaget Memorial Hospital 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. 

“We are proud to offer comprehensive cancer care close to home for our patients,” said Sue Downs, president, Flaget Memorial Hospital. “This accreditation is evidence of the hard work and dedication of our cancer team. They are committed to providing the highest quality of care to our patients battling this devastating disease.”

The CoC Accreditation Program provides the framework for Flaget Memorial Hospital 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.  

Like all CoC-accredited facilities, Flaget Memorial Hospital 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, 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.   

“Accreditation demonstrates that our cancer treatment practices, compared with national benchmarks, are of the highest quality,” said Monte Martin, MD, medical director, KentuckyOne Health Cancer Care. “Our goal is to ensure that the key elements of quality care are provided for every cancer patient. CoC accreditation shows we’re exceeding that goal.”

ACS estimates that more than 1.6 million cases of cancer will be diagnosed in 2013.  There are currently more than 1,500 CoC-accredited cancer programs in the U.S. and Puerto Rico, representing 30 percent of all hospitals. CoC-accredited facilities diagnose and/or treat more than 70 percent of all newly diagnosed cancer patients. 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 http://www.facs.org/cancerprogram/index.html.

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 KentuckyOne Health
KentuckyOne Health was formed when two major Kentucky health care organizations came together in early 2012. KentuckyOne Health combines the Jewish and Catholic heritages of the two former systems – Jewish Hospital & St. Mary’s HealthCare and Saint Joseph Health System. In late 2012, the organization formed a partnership with the University of Louisville Hospital | James Graham Brown Cancer Center.  The nonprofit system is committed to improving the health of Kentuckians by integrating medical research, education, technology and health care services wherever patients receive care. KentuckyOne Health has more than 200 locations including hospitals, physician groups, clinics, primary care centers, specialty institutes and home health agencies across the state of Kentucky and southern Indiana.

 

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