The CHI St. Vincent Hot Springs Cancer Center has been granted Three-Year Accreditation from the Commission on Cancer (CoC), a quality program of the American College of Surgeons. Accreditation recognizes that the cancer program meet 34 CoC quality care standards, is evaluated every three years through a survey process and maintains levels of excellence in the delivery of comprehensive patient-centered care.

“The Cancer Center at CHI St. Vincent Hot Springs continually strives to improve patient outcomes and experiences. We work with our patients as they battle to overcome cancer and support them as cancer survivors,” said Dr. Doug Ross, president of CHI St. Vincent Hot Springs. “This accreditation reaffirms our ongoing commitment to quality and compassionate care for our community in Southwest Arkansas.”

As a CoC-accredited cancer center, CHI St. Vincent Hot Springs takes a multidisciplinary approach to treating cancer as a complex group of diseases that requires consultation among surgeons, medical and radiation oncologists, diagnostic radiologists, pathologists and other cancer specialists. This multidisciplinary partnership results in improved patient care.

The 27,500-square foot Cancer Center in Hot Springs provides radiation therapy services, consultations, physician offices, chemotherapy, community education rooms for classes or support groups, a dedicated American Cancer Society resource area and a cancer registry that offers lifelong patient support. The program follows the CoC accreditation program framework 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.

The American Cancer Society estimates that more than 1.7 million cases of cancer were diagnosed in 2018. The more than 1,500 CoC-accredited cancer programs in the U.S. and Puerto Rico diagnose and/or treat more than 70 percent of all newly diagnosed patients with cancer. When cancer patients choose to seek care locally at a CoC-accredited cancer center, they are gaining access to comprehensive, state-of-the-art cancer care close to home.