TUPELO, Mississippi — 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 North Mississippi Medical Center.

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.

“Our cancer program has maintained this prestigious accreditation since 1981,” said radiation oncologist Benjamin Hinton, M.D., who serves as the chairman of the NMMC Cancer Committee. “We are incredibly proud of the hard work our team puts in every day to deliver world class care to our patients.”

Because it is a CoC-accredited cancer center, NMMC Cancer Care 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.

“When patients and their families come to NMMC Cancer Care, an entire team of health care professionals is ready to support and guide them,” said David Wilson, NMMC president. “Earning reaccreditation confirms our team is delivering comprehensive cancer care at the highest standards.”

NMMC Cancer Care brings together a multidisciplinary team to help patients and their families navigate through diagnosis, treatment and follow up care. Teams of surgeons, medical and radiation oncologists, medical specialists and other health care professionals work together to create individualized treatment plans tailored to each patient’s medical needs and wishes for treatment. Supportive services including palliative care, genetic testing and counseling, social work, cancer rehabilitation, support groups and nutrition counseling wrap around patients and their families. For more information, visit nmhs.net/cancer or call 1-800 THE DESK (1-800-843-3375).

The CoC Accreditation Program provides the framework for NMMC Cancer Care 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 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, NMMC Cancer Care 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.

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% 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.

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.