Spectrum Health Receives Accreditation Award for Cancer Program

Spectrum Health’s cancer program received a three-year accreditation with commendation from the American College of Surgeons Commission on Cancer (CoC).The CoC encourages providers to improve their quality of patient care through programs that focus on prevention, early diagnosis, pretreatment evaluation, staging, optimal treatment, rehabilitation, surveillance for recurrent disease, support services and end-of-life care. Accreditation of a cancer center is granted only to those facilities that are able to comply with established CoC standards.

“We are proud to receive the Commission on Cancer accreditation,” said Richard Funnell, senior director, oncology program, Spectrum Health. “As the region’s largest provider of cancer care, Spectrum Health’s cancer program is dedicated to providing comprehensive services on an individual basis to our patients.”

Spectrum Health’s accreditation is based on a voluntary site survey performed by the CoC in October 2009. Areas of commendation include:

Clinical trial accrual
Prevention and early detection
Cancer education for cancer registry staff
Cancer-related quality improvements

Spectrum Health is a not-for-profit health system in West Michigan that offers a full continuum of care through the Spectrum Health Hospital Group, a collection of eight hospitals and more than 170 service sites; the Spectrum Health Medical Group, mmpc® and West Michigan Heart—physician groups totaling more than 500 providers; and Priority Health, a health plan with nearly 580,000 members. Spectrum Health’s 16,000 employees, 1,500 medical staff members and 2,000 volunteers are committed to delivering the highest quality care. The organization provided $79.4 million in community benefit during its 2009 fiscal year. In 2010, Spectrum Health was named a Top 10 Health System by Thomson Reuters.