FOR INFORMATION CONTACT:
Don Jewler, ACCC Communications Director
301.984.9496, ext. 208
djewler@accc-cancer.org
For Immediate Release: April 2, 2008
Association of Community Cancer Centers Releases "Cancer Program Guidelines 2008"
New Survivorship Services Section Is Highlighted
ROCKVILLE, MD—The Association of Community Cancer Centers (ACCC) has released its “Cancer Program Guidelines 2008” to assist cancer programs that want to develop and/or maintain a comprehensive interdisciplinary program that meets the needs of cancer patients and their families. These guidelines were developed to reflect the optimal components for a cancer program.
ACCC’s "Cancer Program Guidelines 2008" includes a new "Survivorship Services" section that encourages cancer programs to make available information and services specific to survivorship issues to cancer patients and their families. Cancer survivorship—a key component of comprehensive care—is a key ACCC focus. Survivorship is defined as the experience of living with, through, and beyond cancer for both patients and the people in their lives who are impacted by the diagnosis. It comprises the physical, psychological, emotional, social, spiritual, and economic aspects of life that may be influenced by cancer at any time from diagnosis through treatment and all remaining years of life.
ACCC's "Cancer Program Guidelines 2008" is available online on ACCC's website:
www.accc-cancer.org.
Survivorship has figured prominently in ACCC’s two annual national meetings. A soon-to-be published "Survivorship Services Supplement" in Oncology Issues as well as publication and distribution of ACCC’s “Cancer Program Guidelines 2008” are part of this year’s Presidential Grant, sponsored by AstraZeneca, LP, and Abraxis Oncology.
ACCC’s guidelines are not intended to act as an accrediting or credentialing mechanism and are not a list of standards, such as those published by the American College of Surgeons Commission on Cancer. Guidelines should not be a surrogate for independent medical judgment; they serve only as the term implies: as guidelines to help programs meet the optimal attributes.
The Association of Community Cancer Centers provides a national forum for addressing issues that affect community cancer programs, such as regulatory and legislative issues, measurements of the quality of care, and clinical research. Its unique membership of more than 650 hospital cancer programs and oncology private practices includes all members of the cancer care team: medical and radiation oncologists, surgeons, cancer program administrators and medical directors, oncology nurses, pharmacists, radiation therapists, oncology social workers, and cancer program data managers.
