National accreditation earned by Holzer Center for Cancer Care
Patient cheering and support
GALLIPOLIS – 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 Holzer Center for Cancer Care. 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, Holzer 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.
Holzer has maintained this accreditation from the CoC since 1934. “We are so proud to be able to offer quality cancer services for our communities,” stated Sarah Harrigan, RN, MSN, OCN, Director, Holzer Center for Cancer Care. “Receiving the CoC Accreditation is a testament to the top notch care our program is committed to providing each and every day.”
Alice Dachowski, MD, has served as the Systems’ Cancer Liaison Physician since 1993, spending countless hours at the national, state and local levels and applying that knowledge to the Holzer Health System. She is active in Gallia County’s American Cancer Society (ACS) Relay for Life and serves as Chairman of the Gallia Relay for Life Survivor Committee. She has been instrumental in collaborating with the ACS to implement Holzer’s monthly Cancer Support Group, which has provided many cancer patients and/or survivors a connection with others in an effort to form a much needed support system.
She is also an advocate for The Ohio Breast and Cervical Cancer Project and is a member of The American Society of Breast Surgeons. “It is a testimony to all the hard work of the Cancer Care Committee of Holzer that we received the accreditation status for three years, which is the maximum granted by the CoC,” stated Dr. Dachowski.
The CoC Accreditation Program provides the framework for Holzer 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, Holzer Center for Cancer Care 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 1.6 million cases of cancer will be diagnosed in 2016. 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
Holzer Center for Cancer Care is affiliated with The James Cancer Network for medical oncology and radiation oncology services, which provides quality oversight of medical oncology and radiation oncology services. This affiliation provides improved access to continuing education for physicians, nurses and allied professionals; sharing of information regarding treatment opportunities for patients, both standard and experimental; expedited referrals for patients; and a collaboration to improve patient satisfaction and exchanged quality measurements. In addition, Holzer’s cancer program at has the benefits of over 160 Board Certified and Board Eligible physicians in the Holzer system, providing care in more than 30 areas of expertise, and a comprehensive healthcare system providing the entire continuum of care services for the communities we serve. The Center is located at 170 Jackson Pike in Gallipolis, Ohio.
The Center collaborates with several American Cancer Society sponsored support groups and offers a monthly cancer support group. All of these programs are available to help cancer patients and their loved ones deal with daily trials.
For more information on the cancer services at Holzer, visit www.holzer.org or call 1-855-4-HOLZER.
