Coc Accreditation
6/6/2018
POPLAR BLUFF, MO- June 5, 2018—The Commission on Cancer (CoC), a quality program of the
American College of Surgeons (ACS) has granted Three-Year Accreditation to the cancer program at
Danny Bell Cancer Center. To earn voluntary CoC accreditation, a cancer program must meet 34 CoC
quality care standards, be evaluated every three years through a survey process, and maintain levels of
excellence in the delivery of comprehensive patient-centered care.
Because it is a CoC-accredited cancer center, Danny Bell Cancer Center takes a 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.
“CoC accreditation challenges cancer programs to enhance the care they provide by addressing
patient-centered needs and measuring the quality of the care they deliver against national
standards” said Bryan S. Bateman, CEO. “We are proud to deliver this high standard of care to
our patients, allowing them to receive comprehensive patient-centered care close to home.”
The CoC Accreditation Program provides the framework for Danny Bell Cancer Center to improve its
quality of 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, 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 facilities, Danny Bell 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 this type of
data analysis, which is used to create national, regional, and state benchmark reports. These reports help
CoC facilities with their quality improvement efforts.
The American Cancer Society estimates that more than 1.7 million cases of cancer will be diagnosed in
2018. There are currently more than 1,500 CoC-accredited cancer programs in the U.S. and Puerto Rico,
CoC-accredited facilities diagnose and/or treat more than 70 percent of all newly diagnosed patients with
cancer. When cancer patients choose to seek care locally at a CoC-accredited cancer center, they are
gaining access to comprehensive, state-of-the-art cancer care close to home. The CoC provides the public
with information on the resources, services, and cancer treatment experience for each CoC-accredited
cancer program through the CoC Hospital Locator at https://www.facs.org/search/cancer-programs.
Established in 1922 by the American College of Surgeons, the CoC is a consortium of professional
organizations dedicated to improving patient outcomes and quality of life for cancer patients through
standard-setting, prevention, research, education, and the monitoring of comprehensive, quality care. Its
membership includes Fellows of the American College of Surgeons. For more information, visit:
www.facs.org/cancer
Back