Northwest Community Healthcare earns Outstanding Achievement Award from the American College of Surgeons Commission on Cancer

This award recognizes cancer programs that achieve excellence in compliance to the CoC Standards and providing the highest quality care to cancer patients

Northwest Community Healthcare (NCH) was recently awarded the 2017 Outstanding Achievement Award by the Commission on Cancer (CoC) of the American College of Surgeons (ACS). NCH is one of a select group of 16 U.S. accredited cancer programs to receive this national honor for cancer surveys performed July 1 to December 31, 2017.

The purpose of the award is to encourage cancer programs to raise the bar on quality cancer care, with the ultimate goal of increasing awareness about high quality, patient-centered care. In addition, the award is intended to:

• Recognize those cancer programs that achieve excellence meeting the CoC Standards
• Motivate other cancer programs to work toward improving their level of quality cancer care
• Facilitate dialogue between award recipients and health care professionals at other cancer facilities for the purpose of sharing best practices
• Encourage honorees to serve as quality care resources to other cancer programs

NCH’s cancer program was evaluated on 34 program standards categorized within five cancer program activity areas: program management, clinical services, continuum of care services, patient outcomes, and data quality. The cancer program was further evaluated on seven commendation standards. To be eligible, all award recipients must have received commendation ratings in all seven commendation standards, in addition to receiving a compliance rating for each of the 27 other standards.

We are very proud and excited to be recognized by the American College of Surgeons Commission on Cancer Outstanding Achievement Award,” says Stephen Nigh, M.D., Radiation Oncology, Medical Director of Cancer Services at NCH. “It reflects the breadth of the Oncology services that are provided to patients who seek their cancer care at NCH and the degree of excellence that they have come to expect from us. Less than five percent of all programs achieve this recognition in any given year. Our primary focus continues to be providing the highest quality of care in a very patient-centered, compassionate and forward-thinking manner.”

For a list of all cancer programs in the U.S. that received the award during the second half of 2017, visit the American College of Surgeons website.