DOWNERS GROVE, Ill. – DuPage Medical Group, the largest independent multi-specialty physician group in the Chicago area, has been recognized with a Three Year Accreditation with Commendation as a Freestanding Cancer Center from the American College of Surgeons’ Commission on Cancer (CoC). This level of accreditation is the CoC’s highest distinction for quality of care and ensures that DMG’s Integrated Oncology Program exceeds all standard requirements. DMG is the only accredited Freestanding Cancer Center in Illinois.
The CoC Accreditation Program was established to help ensure that cancer patients receive high-quality, comprehensive and multidisciplinary patient-centered care. It provides DMG the framework to improve its quality of patient care through various cancer-related programs that focus on the full continuum of cancer care from prevention, to diagnosis through treatment and survivorship.
“I am extremely proud of our physicians and staff for all the work they have done leading up to this accreditation,” says Dr. Brian Moran, Radiation Oncologist and Cancer Committee Chair. “When we started creating the Integrated Oncology Program, we brought together a true multi-disciplinary team of highly-trained specialists and state-of-the-art imaging. This CoC-accreditation is a great accomplishment and illustration of care that I am proud to be part of at DMG. ”
The CoC establishes quality-of-care standards for cancer programs nationwide. To achieve and maintain this voluntary accreditation, programs go through an application process and are reviewed every three years. Programs must meet 34 quality standards and maintain levels of excellence in the delivery of comprehensive patient-centered care. Accreditation through the CoC is recognized by major medical and health care organizations like the National Cancer Institute, American Cancer Society, The Joint Commission and Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services.
CoC-accredited programs offer patients a multi-disciplinary approach to cancer treatment that requires collaboration among surgeons, medical oncologists, radiation oncologists, radiologists, and other specialists. Patients have access to information on clinical trials and new treatments, genetic counseling, and support services, including psycho-social support, a patient navigation process, oncologic palliative care and a survivorship-care plan that tracks patient care and seeks to improve cancer survivors’ quality of life.
Like all CoC-accredited facilities, DMG 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.
Learn more about DMG’s Integrated Oncology Program.
About DuPage Medical Group
With more than 475 physicians in more than 60 locations, DuPage Medical Group is the largest independent, multi-specialty physician group in the Chicago area, providing physician-directed health care focused on quality, efficiency and access. For more information, visit www.dulyhealthandcare.com.
About the Commission on Cancer
Established in 1922 by the American College of Surgeons, the Commission on Cancer 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 and representatives of 49 national organizations that reflect the full spectrum of cancer care.