Baptist Cancer Center-North Mississippi has been awarded the Integrated Network Cancer Program Accreditation from the Commission on Cancer, a quality program of the American College of Surgeons.

The Commission on Cancer is a consortium of professional organizations dedicated to improving survival and quality of life for patients with cancer by setting and raising standards. Commission on Cancer promotes cancer prevention, research, education and monitoring of comprehensive quality care. Commission on Cancer-accredited programs undergo an on-site visit to review documentation for compliance with set standards on a triennial basis.

“We are thrilled to be granted the elite Integrated Network Accreditation by the American College of Surgeons,” said Ann Bishop, system administrator of Baptist Cancer Center. “This accreditation takes years of programmatic development, physician and administrative leadership and impeccable patient-centered care. This award demonstrates exceptional cancer care is provided at all of our locations across Baptist.”

The Commission on Cancer accreditation program provides the framework for Baptist Cancer Center to improve 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 Baptist Cancer Center 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 seeks to improve cancer survivors’ quality of life.

Baptist Cancer Center maintains a cancer registry and contributes data to the National Cancer Database, a joint program of the Commission on Cancer and the American Cancer Society. This nationwide oncology outcomes database is the largest clinical disease registry in the world.

The Commission on Cancer was established in 1922 by the American College of Surgeons. Its membership includes Fellows of the American College of Surgeons. To earn voluntary Commission on Cancer accreditation, a cancer program must meet 34 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. For more information, visit www.facs.org/cancer.

Baptist Cancer Center provides world-class cancer care close to home throughout Baptist Memorial Health Care’s tristate service area of Arkansas, Mississippi and Tennessee. The center takes an interdisciplinary approach to patient care and offers treatment, research, support services, community education and the area’s first genetic counseling and testing program for cancer. In addition, Baptist Cancer Center has the Mid-South’s first adult myelosuppression unit, which provides specialized care for patients who have received chemotherapy that interferes with blood cell production or stops bone marrow activity. In 2019, Baptist Cancer Center was awarded a second $9 million research grant from the National Cancer Institute to continue building out its clinical research infrastructure to expand lifesaving, leading-edge treatment across the Mid-South, including overcoming disparities in cancer care under the Minority-Underserved NCI Community Oncology Research Program, known as NCORP. In 2021, Baptist Cancer Center launched a multifaceted initiative called the Mid-South Miracle aimed at reducing lung cancer deaths in the Mid-South 25% by 2030. For more information, please visit baptistcancercenter.com or follow us on Facebook.