Newswise — CHICAGO (March 25, 2025) — Children with cancer often require care specific to their needs to achieve optimal outcomes. To this end, the American College of Surgeons (ACS) Commission on Cancer (CoC) has developed a designation within CoC accreditation to help hospitals provide the best care possible to these patients.
The first two programs to be accredited under this new designation are the Cleveland Clinic Foundation and UK Healthcare Markey Cancer Center of the University of Kentucky in Lexington, Kentucky.
“The CoC pediatric accreditation process provides a structured approach to routinely and systematically take a close look at all the components of your program and make sure it is running smoothly. It is like doing tune-ups on your engine instead of reacting to a check engine light. It has highlighted all the great work we are doing but also helped identify areas that could be optimized,” said Matteo Trucco, MD, director of the Children’s Cancer Innovative Therapy Program at Cleveland Clinic.
“I think the clear benefit of CoC accreditation is having a mechanism to get all the valued stakeholders involved in pediatric cancer care at Kentucky Children’s Hospital to the table to discuss the care of these patients. Through this, we have been able to identify barriers and challenges that we individually face and as a committee have been able to troubleshoot and address those issues,” said Caryn Sorge, MD, associate professor of pediatrics at the University of Kentucky College of Medicine. “This leads to improved overall clinical care for these patients and is a great opportunity to highlight the quality clinical care that we provide across the board to pediatric oncology patients.”
To achieve this accreditation, these programs have shown their commitment to providing high-quality cancer care by demonstrating compliance with the CoC standards that have been specifically adapted for the treatment of pediatric patients. Among the standards these programs met is a requirement to have pediatric sub-specialists in areas including hematology/oncology, radiology, surgery, and pathology. Additionally, these programs are recommended to have a survivorship team that includes pediatric specialists to support patients beyond their cancer treatment.
Each cancer program accredited by the CoC must undergo a rigorous evaluation and review of its performance and compliance with CoC standards. Cancer programs must undergo a site visit every three years to maintain accreditation. The CoC standards supply the structure for providing pediatric patients with a full range of diagnostic, treatment, and support services either on-site or by referral, including community-based resources.
As CoC-accredited institutions, the Cleveland Clinic Foundation and UK Healthcare Markey Cancer Center also are recognized as . Being a Surgical Quality Partner signifies an institution’s dedication to consistently improving procedures and approaches, while maintaining a critical eye on process at every step. The Surgical Quality Partner designation lets patients know that the Cleveland Clinic Foundation and UK Healthcare Markey Cancer Center are dedicated to quality and relentless self-improvement and have been accredited by the ACS. Patients can trust that the care they receive at Surgical Quality Partner hospitals adheres to the most rigorous standards in surgical quality.
“ACS Quality programs are grounded in more than a century of experience and participation is an important measure of a hospital’s surgical quality. Cleveland Clinic Foundation and UK Healthcare Markey Cancer Center have shown a commitment to providing the best possible pediatric cancer care, evaluating that care in a rigorous fashion, and dedicating themselves to continuous self-improvement,” said ACS Executive Director & Chief Executive Officer Patricia L. Turner, MD, MBA, FACS.
The ACS CoC is a consortium of professional organizations dedicated to improving survival and quality of life for patients with cancer by setting and raising standards. Learn more about the .
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About the American College of Surgeons
The (ACS) is a scientific and educational organization of surgeons that was founded in 1913 to raise the standards of surgical practice and improve the quality of care for all surgical patients. The ACS is dedicated to the ethical and competent practice of surgery. Its achievements have significantly influenced the course of scientific surgery in America and have established it as an important advocate for all surgical patients. The ACS has approximately 90,000 members and is the largest organization of surgeons in the world. “FACS” designates that a surgeon is a Fellow of the ACS.
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