To earn CoC accreditation, a cancer program must meet 34 CoC quality care standards, be evaluated every three years through a formal survey process and maintain excellence in comprehensive patient-centered care. This means that the UF Health Cancer Center takes a multidisciplinary approach to treating cancer involving a team of cancer specialists, resulting in improved patient care.
The UF Health Cancer Center received reaccreditation in the Academic Comprehensive Cancer Program category, which is for facilities that participate in postgraduate medical education in at least four program areas, including internal medicine and general surgery.
The CoC Accreditation Program provides the framework for the UF Health Cancer Center to improve its quality of patient care through various cancer-related programs that focus on the full spectrum of cancer care, including prevention, early diagnosis, cancer staging, optimal treatment, rehabilitation, life-long follow-up for recurrent disease and end-of-life care.
When patients receive care at a CoC facility, they also have access to information on clinical trials and new treatments, genetic counseling and patient-centered services, including psychosocial support, a patient navigation process and a survivorship care plan that documents the care each patient receives and seeks to improve cancer survivors’ quality of life.
The UF Health Cancer Center has achieved additional national accreditation through the CoC for two disease-specific cancer programs in breast cancer and rectal cancer, which requires even more stringent compliance with multidisciplinary team participation, patient resources, timeliness of care and quality of outcomes.
Like all CoC-accredited facilities, the UF Health Cancer Center maintains a cancer registry and contributes data to the National Cancer Database, a joint program of the CoC and American Cancer Society.
Read more about how UF Health’s rectal cancer program received national accreditation.