Local cancer treatment program among only 20% of facilities accredited by CoC

Cape Cod Healthcare’s Cancer Care Program has once again earned accreditation from the Commission on Cancer (CoC), a quality improvement program of the American College of Surgeons. The CoC accredits cancer programs that are committed to providing comprehensive, high-quality, patient-centered care.

“It’s about providing quality care,” said Peter Hopewood, MD, FACS, of Cape Cod Surgeons in Falmouth, who is chair of the CCHC Cancer Care Committee.

The accreditations assure patients that they are getting the best possible care in a program that is committed to meeting or exceeding national benchmarks for cancer care. And when it comes to cancer care, patients do their homework, Dr. Hopewood said.

“There are about 6,000 acute cancer facilities in the United States and about 1,300 are accredited by the Commission on Cancer,” he said. “That’s about 20 percent. And out of all the cancer patients in the United States, 75 percent of them go to Commission on Cancer programs for their care. So, patients look for accreditation. It’s kind of like looking to buy the best car. You review the safety data first.”

The Commission reviews cancer care programs every three years, and receives a site visit by a site reviewer. The site reviewer does a tour and takes a comprehensive look at every aspect of the cancer program. The different aspects of the program they look at are:

• Type of treatment
• Quality of equipment used
• Outcomes
• Survivorship
• Side effects of treatments
• Length of survivorship
• Follow-up care
• Timely treatment
• Access to care
• Psycho-social distress
• Palliative care

The reviewers also look at the results of a program’s improvements to their services. For example, if there is a goal to increase mammography services, did the healthcare system meet that goal? Or do all patients with 20 pack years of smoking get a low-dose CT scan to screen for lung cancer?

“Falmouth and Cape Cod Hospital (cancer programs) are combined, so we’re an Integrated Network Cancer Program,” Dr. Hopewood said. “We have one combined cancer committee for both hospitals. That means we share resources. We share the best of each place and we try to do the same things at each place to be on the same playing field for the patients.”

In addition to the CoC accreditation, both the Cuda Women’s Health Center in Hyannis and the Seifer Women’s Health and Imaging Center in Falmouth separately receive annual accreditation by the American College of Surgeons’ National Accreditation Program for Breast Centers (NAPBC)

The accreditations are especially significant to older patients on the Cape who prefer to seek their healthcare in a setting close to their home.

“The baby boomer population has almost doubled in the past decade,” Dr. Hopewood said. “They’re in their 70s and maybe even a little bit older and, as we get older there are certain diseases that increase in frequency. Cancer is one of them. It’s harder for these patients to travel. They like being home and in familiar places with familiar faces.”

In addition to being a cancer care specialist on the Cape, Dr. Hopewood is also a Commission On Cancer site visit reviewer himself. He’s done more than 100 site reviews in the past 10 years. Before the pandemic, he was traveling about every four to six weeks to different states to do site reviews. The reviews took about three to four weeks to prepare and a full day to tour the site. Then he would spend another couple of weeks putting the review together. Since 2020, the reviews have moved to virtual visits.

“We do this all to improve cancer care,” Dr. Hopewood said, pointing out that the CoC also encourages collaboration between healthcare systems.

“I can share highlights of what we do in our programs with other programs and I share highlights of what other programs do with us.”