For programs seeking accreditation from the Commission on Cancer, Standard 8 Education: Professional and Community Outreach rationale states:
"Part of being a quality cancer program is not only addressing the program's current patients, but also those in the community who may develop cancer or have difficulty receiving cancer treatment."
American College of Surgeons Commission on Cancer, Optimal Resources for Cancer Care: 2020 Standards, Standard 8 Education: Professional and Community Outreach, Standard 8.1 Addressing Barriers to Care; Standard 8.2 Cancer Prevention Event; Standard 8.3 Cancer Screening Event.
For programs seeking accreditation from the Commission on Cancer, Standard 8.1 Addressing Barriers to Care calls on the cancer committee to assess the cancer program's strengths and barriers. Among the potential resources for identifying these, the Commission lists the following: Cancer Quality Improvement Program (CQIP) reports, patient satisfaction surveys, patient focus groups, local and regional public health population resources, comparison of cancer program data to state cancer registry data, a Community Needs Assessment. Standard 8.2 requires the cancer committee to offer at least one cancer prevention event per calendar year. Standard 8.3 requires the cancer committee to offer at least one cancer screening event per calendar year.
St. Luke's University Health Network is an nonprofit health network that serves 10 counties in eastern Pennsylvania and western New Jersey. The network is composed of 7 hospitals and more than 270 outpatient facilities. St. Luke's cancer program accredited by the CoC as an Integrated Network Cancer Program—meaning they have multiple facilities providing integrated cancer care and comprehensive services.
Learn how the St. Luke's University Health Network benefited when the Community Health Needs Assessment (CHNA) team preparing the the CHNA required by the 2010 Affordable Care Act, and the Community Needs Assessment (CNA) team preparing the CNA required to satisfy Commission on Cancer Cancer Program accreditation requirements were able to connect so that the cancer program was able to use evidence-based processes and best practices similar to those used by the CHNA team. By integrating and aligning these assessment processes and through collaboration, the health network's CHNA and CNA implementation goals were in alignment.
