NMMC Cancer Care Receives Outstanding Achievement Award from American College of Surgeons Commission on Cancer

Outstanding Achievement Award is granted biannually to accredited cancer programs that exceed compliance expectations of the CoC standards.

CHICAGO, Illinois—The Commission on Cancer (CoC) of the American College of Surgeons (ACS) has granted its 2019 Outstanding Achievement Award to a select group of 49 accredited cancer programs throughout the United States, including North Mississippi Medical Center in Tupelo

“To meet the basic standards of care established by the CoC, programs must commit significant time and resources throughout each three-year accreditation cycle,” said Ray Reed, M.D., radiation oncologist and NMMC Cancer Committee chair. “While most programs in our region are not CoC-accredited, NMMC Cancer Care has been continuously accredited since its inception. In fact, we are the oldest continuously accredited program in the northern half of Mississippi.

“To receive the Outstanding Achievement Award is the result of many hours of hard work by an outstanding team of people whose life’s work is spent taking care of people in their greatest time of need. I am proud to work alongside this remarkable group who dedicate their lives in service to their fellow man. This award is recognition for the exceptional patient- and family-centered care that is provided every day at NMMC, but most importantly, it recognizes our unwavering commitment to cancer patients and their families in our community.”

The purpose of the award is to raise the bar on quality cancer care, with the ultimate goal of increasing awareness about quality care choices among cancer patients and their loved ones. In addition, the award is intended to:

• Recognize those cancer programs that achieve excellence in providing quality care to cancer patients
• Motivate other cancer programs to work toward improving their level of 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

“More and more, we’re finding that patients and their families want to know how the health care institutions in their communities compare with one another,” said Lawrence N. Shulman, M.D., MACP, chair of the CoC. “They want access to information in terms of who’s providing the best quality of care, and they want to know about overall patient outcomes. Through this recognition program, I’d like to think we’re playing a small but vital role in helping them make informed decisions on their cancer care.”

The 49 award-winning cancer care programs represent approximately 7% of programs surveyed by the CoC Jan. 1–Dec. 31, 2019. “These cancer programs currently represent the best of the best when it comes to cancer care,” added Dr. Shulman. “Each of these facilities is not just meeting nationally recognized standards for the delivery of quality cancer care, they are exceeding them.”