New CoC Accreditation Supports Excellence in Rural Cancer Care

The ACS Commission on Cancer (CoC) has introduced a new rural accreditation category to expand access to high-quality cancer care in rural communities, where long travel times and specialist shortages often limit care. 

CoC accreditation helps hospitals deliver comprehensive, patient-centered cancer care through evidence-based standards. More than 1,400 U.S. hospitals are accredited, but fewer than 20% are in rural areas. Workforce shortages, limited access to specialty services, and other challenges can make it difficult for rural hospitals to achieve and sustain accreditation.

Although cancer incidence in rural and urban areas is similar, cancer death rates are about 15% higher in rural communities, and the gap is widening. 

“Research shows that CoC accreditation improves access to high-quality care and enhances outcomes, reducing complications and death,” said Ronald J. Weigel, MD, PhD, FACS, Medical Director of the ACS Cancer Programs. “Previously, some rural hospitals could not pursue accreditation due to resource constraints. The new category makes accreditation, and the benefits that accompany it, more attainable by tailoring the standards to the needs and resources of rural hospitals.” 

Institutional data from North Carolina, peer-reviewed research published in the Journal of the American College of Surgeons, and the experiences of frontline surgeons and quality improvement officers underscore the power of CoC accreditation to transform cancer care in rural settings.

“CoC accreditation is unique in addressing the full continuum of cancer care and providing a roadmap for delivering coordinated, high-quality health care from screening through diagnosis and survivorship,” said Ingrid Lizarraga, MBBS, FACS, CoC State Chair of Iowa and a breast surgical oncologist from the University of Iowa in Iowa City.

Hospitals in counties designated as RUCC 4–9 are eligible to apply for the rural accreditation category. RUCC is a USDA classification system that measures how urban or rural a county is based on factors including population size and its relationship to nearby metropolitan areas. 

Hospitals can begin implementing the standards immediately and request a site visit after 1 year of compliance. Additional details are available through the CoC.