TOP U.S. HOSPITAL CLEVELAND CLINIC’S RECTAL CANCER PROGRAM EARNS AMERICAN COLLEGE OF SURGEONS ACCOLADE
Cleveland Clinic’s rectal cancer program has earned a three-year accreditation from the National Accreditation Program for Rectal Cancer (NAPRC).
The program was launched in 2017 and is administered by the American College of Surgeons (ACS).
Cleveland Clinic’s rectal cancer program is based in the eponymous Ohio city and in Weston, Florida. It is the first such scheme in either state to earn the NAPRC accreditation, which has only been awarded to four sites in the United States.
To earn the voluntary accreditation, Cleveland Clinic’s rectal cancer program was required to meet 19 standards, including the presence of a rectal cancer multidisciplinary team (RC-MDT) that includes clinical representatives from surgery, pathology, radiology, radiation oncology, and medical oncology.
Thirteen of those standards address clinical services that the program was required to provide, including CEA testing, MRI and CT imaging for cancer staging, and ensuring a process whereby the patient starts treatment within a defined timeframe. One of the most important clinical standards requires all rectal cancer patients to be presented at both pre- and post-treatment RC-MDT meetings.
“We are very proud that our team received this recognition,” said Matthew Kalady, M.D., Co-Director of the Cleveland Clinic Comprehensive Colorectal Cancer Program.
“Rectal cancer requires the expertise of many medical and surgical specialties, and working together as one team is critical so that patients receive the most appropriate and highest-quality care. We have always approached rectal cancer care with a multidisciplinary approach, and receiving this accreditation affirms that our management of patients with rectal cancer meets the highest standards.”
Steven Wexner, MD, Chairman of Cleveland Clinic Florida’s Department of Colorectal Surgery, and Matthew Kalady, MD, played an instrumental role in launching the initiative and facilitating its early implementation. The NAPRC was developed through a collaboration between the ACS Commission on Cancer (CoC), an ACS quality program, and the Optimizing the Surgical Treatment of Rectal Cancer (OSTRiCh) Consortium, as well as the American College of Radiology (ACR), the American Society of Colon and Rectal Surgeons (ASCRS), and the College of American Pathologists (CAP). It is based on successful international models that emphasize program structure, patient care processes, performance improvement, and performance measures. Its goal is to ensure that rectal cancer patients receive appropriate care using a multidisciplinary approach.
“When a cancer center achieves this type of specialized accreditation it means that their rectal cancer patients will receive streamlined, modern evaluation and treatment for the disease. Compliance with our standards will assure optimal care for these patients,” said David P. Winchester, MD, FACS, Medical Director of ACS Cancer Programs.
