Parrish Medical Center’s Oncology Program Nationally Accredited by the Commission on Cancer (CoC) of the American College of Surgeons

Parrish Medical Center’s (PMC) Oncology Program has once again earned the Commission on Cancer’s (CoC) accreditation. Currently, it is the only oncology program with this distinction in Brevard County. PMC has maintained this accreditation since 1990, making it the longest, continuously accredited program in the area.

To earn voluntary CoC accreditation, a quality program of the American College of Surgeons (ACS), an oncology program must meet 34 CoC quality care standards, be evaluated every three years through a survey process, and maintain levels of excellence in the delivery of comprehensive patient-centered care. As a CoC-accredited program, PMC takes a multidisciplinary approach to treating cancer that includes consultation among surgeons, medical and radiation oncologists, diagnostic radiologists, pathologists, and other oncology specialists.

“The CoC Accreditation Program provides the framework for PMC to continuously improve its quality of patient care through various programs that focus on the full spectrum of cancer care, including prevention, early diagnosis, cancer staging, treatment, rehabilitation, life-long follow-up for recurrent disease, and end-of-life care,” said Alex Gutierrez, manager of oncology and infusion programs.

The American Cancer Society estimates that more than 1.9 million cases of cancer will be diagnosed in 2023. Like all CoC-accredited programs, PMC maintains a cancer registry and contributes data to the National Cancer Data Base (NCDB), a joint program of the CoC and American Cancer Society. Data on all types of cancer are tracked and analyzed through the NCDB and used to explore trends in cancer care. CoC-accredited programs, in turn, have access to information derived from this type of data analysis, which is used to create national, regional, and state benchmark reports. These reports help CoC programs with their quality improvement efforts.

The CoC provides the public with information on the resources, services, and cancer treatment experience for each CoC-accredited cancer program through the CoC Hospital Locator at https://www.facs.org/search/cancer-programs. For more information about PMC’s Oncology Program, visit parrishhealthcare.com/cancer, or call the cancer care patient navigator at 321-268-6111, ext. 3544.