Martin-O’Neil Cancer Center Accredited By The Commission On Cancer Of the American College of Surgeons

Adventist Health St. Helena cancer program earns national accreditation

The Commission on Cancer (Coc), a quality program of the American College of Surgeons (ACS) has granted Cancer Program Accreditation to the Martin-O’Neil Cancer Center at Adventist Health St. Helena. To earn voluntary CoC accreditation, the Martin-O’Neil Cancer Center met 100 percent of the 24 CoC quality care standards, demonstrating a level of excellence in the delivery of comprehensive patient-centered care.

The Commission on Cancer accreditation validates the Martin-O’Neil Cancer Center’s 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.

“I’m proud of our cancer center team for their rigorous preparation for this accreditation, but even more so for the compassionate, high-quality care they provide every day,” says Dr. Steven Herber, president of Adventist Health St. Helena. “Our community deserves the very best cancer treatment, and we are privileged to ensure they can receive that right here in the Napa Valley where they are most comfortable and without having to drive to a university program.”

The CoC Accreditation Program provides cancer programs with a framework to ensure high quality 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 such as the Martin-O’Neil Cancer Center, they also have access to information on clinical trials and new treatments, genetic counseling and patient centered services including psycho-social support, a patient navigation process and a survivorship care plan documenting the care each patient receives. Through all-encompassing support programs and services, the center’s survivorship program seeks to improve cancer survivors’ quality of life.

Dr. Tyler Kang, medical oncologist and hematologist, chaired the CoC committee for the Martin-O’Neil Cancer Center. As medical director of business development and strategy, Dr. Kang believes the accreditation process strengthens the streamlined care the center provides. “Our multi-disciplinary tumor boards and clinics engage in the latest evidence-based therapies for our patients that rival or exceeds those at academic centers, and our affiliation with national clinical trial programs allow patients to receive the best care close to home,” he explains.

Like all CoC-accredited facilities, the Martin-O’Neil Cancer Center 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. Data on all types of cancer are tracked and analyzed through the NCDB and used to explore trends in cancer care. CoC-accredited cancer centers, in turn, have access to information derived from data analysis, which is used to create national, regional and state benchmark reports. These reports help CoC facilities with their quality improvement efforts.

“When patients choose to seek care locally, they can be confident that they are gaining access to comprehensive, state-of-the-art cancer care close to home,” says Ari Umutyan, MD, medical oncologist and medical director of the Martin-O’Neil Cancer Center. “We approach every patient’s case as a multidisciplinary team to ensure we’re offering the most precise, individualized and compassionate treatment. This accreditation is important validation that we’re delivering the best care.”