CoC announces 2019 Outstanding Achievement Award recipients

The Commission on Cancer (CoC) of the American College of Surgeons has recognized the 48 recipients of the 2019 Outstanding Achievement Award (OAA).

The OAA designation is presented to exceptional CoC-accredited programs that have met the criteria for all 34 cancer program standards categorized within one of four cancer program activity areas: cancer committee leadership, cancer data management, clinical services, and quality improvement. Programs are further evaluated on six commendation standards. Award recipients must have received commendation ratings in all seven commendation standards, in addition to receiving a compliance rating for each of the 26 remaining cancer program standards.

The award is intended to accomplish the following:

• Recognize those cancer programs that achieve excellence in providing quality care to cancer patients
• Motivate other cancer programs to work toward improving their level of care
• Facilitate a dialog between award recipients and health care professionals at other cancer facilities for the purpose of sharing best practices
• Encourage honorees to serve as quality care resources to other cancer programs

“More and more, we’re finding that patients and their families want to know how the health care institutions in their communities compare with one another,” said Lawrence N. Shulman, MD, FACP, Chair of the CoC. “They want access to information in terms of who’s providing the best quality of care, and they want to know about overall patient outcomes. Through this recognition program, I’d like to think we’re playing a small but vital role in helping them make informed decisions on their cancer care.”

The CoC acknowledges these programs for their efforts to provide high-quality cancer care, demonstrate accountability, and foster a strong commitment to CoC accreditation. View more information about and a complete list of OAA winners on the CoC web page.