Dignity Health Hospitals Earn National Accreditation with Commendation from the Commission on Cancer as an Integrated Network Cancer Program
SACRAMENTO, CA, March 7, 2018 – Dignity Health Mercy General Hospital, Dignity Health Mercy San Juan Medical Center and Dignity Health Sierra Nevada Memorial Hospital have earned national accreditation with commendation as the first Integrated Network Cancer Program (INCP) in the Sacramento region from the Commission on Cancer (CoC) of the American College of Surgeons.
This network integration brings additional benefits for patients, such as comprehensive, coordinated efforts to provide the best cancer treatment options, close to patients’ homes. Through the CoC, Mercy General Hospital, Mercy San Juan Medical Center and Sierra Nevada Memorial Hospital also have access to reporting tools to aid in benchmarking and improving outcomes as well as educational and training opportunities, development resources and advocacy.
“At the Dignity Health Cancer Institute, we are proud to provide innovative, comprehensive and high-quality cancer care to our patients,” said Costanzo DiPerna, MD, senior director, oncology services, Dignity Health Cancer Institute. “Our accreditation as an Integrated Network Cancer Program exemplifies our multi-disciplinary approach by our dedicated team of experts.”
The CoC Accreditation Program provides the framework for Mercy General Hospital, Mercy San Juan Medical Center and Sierra Nevada Memorial Hospital to improve its quality of patient care through various cancer-related programs that focus on comprehensive 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 INCP, 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 that documents the care each patient receives and seeks to improve cancer survivors’ quality of life.
Like all CoC-accredited networks, the Dignity Health Cancer Institute 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 this type of data analysis, which is used to create national, regional, and state benchmark reports. These reports help CoC networks with their quality improvement efforts.
The American Cancer Society estimates that more than 1.6 million cases of cancer will be diagnosed in 2017.
About Dignity Health’s Greater Sacramento Service Area
Dignity Health operates six hospitals in the Greater Sacramento Service Area - Mercy General Hospital, Mercy Hospital of Folsom, Mercy San Juan Medical Center, Methodist Hospital of Sacramento, Sierra Nevada Memorial Hospital and Woodland Memorial Hospital; as well as Mercy Home Health and Hospice, and Dignity Health Medical Foundation, which includes Mercy Medical Group, Woodland Care Center, Davis Care Center and Mercy Imaging Centers. Dignity Health is dedicated to providing compassionate, high-quality and affordable patient-centered care with special attention to the poor and underserved. . In FY17, Dignity Health provided $2.6 billion in charitable care and services. For more information, please visit our website at dignityhealth.org/Sacramento. You can also follow us on Twitter @DignityHlthSac and Facebook.com/DignityHealthSacramento.
Publish date:
Monday, April 16, 2018