COVINGTON – St. Tammany Health System, in collaboration with its partners at St. Tammany Cancer Center – A Campus of Ochsner Medical Center, has been re-accredited by the Commission on Cancer (CoC), a quality program of the American College of Surgeons. This voluntary re-accreditation, which requires adherence to 35 quality care standards, is valid for three years.
“St. Tammany Health System is proud to have been recognized as an accredited ACS Commission on Cancer program since 1995,” STHS President and CEO Joan Coffman said. “From the recognized excellence of our Breast Disease and High-Risk Clinic to our adoption of groundbreaking detection technologies to the central role we play at St. Tammany Cancer Center, our team of medical and radiation oncologists, diagnosticians, medical subspecialists, surgeons and other cancer-care experts have come together in a multidisciplinary fashion to build what is truly one of the most trusted and advanced cancer programs in the region, and this recognition underscores that.”
Opened in 2021, St. Tammany Cancer Center is a joint venture between St. Tammany Health System and partner Ochsner Health. In 2023, Ochsner and MD Anderson announced a separate partnership bringing the latter’s expertise to seven Ochsner cancer center including St. Tammany Cancer Center.
In addition, St. Tammany Health System’s Women’s Pavilion is one of five Louisiana centers accredited by the National Accreditation Program for Breast Centers (NAPBC), and the health system’s flagship St. Tammany Parish Hospital has been recognized as one of America’s Best Hospitals for Cancer for seven consecutive years by Women’s Choice.
To earn voluntary CoC accreditation, a cancer program must be evaluated every three years through a survey process and maintain levels of excellence in the delivery of comprehensive patient-centered care.
Central to the CoC accreditation is St. Tammany Cancer Center’s multidisciplinary approach to treating cancer as a complex group of diseases that requires consultation and coordination among surgeons, medical and radiation oncologists, diagnostic radiologists, pathologists and other cancer specialists. This multidisciplinary partnership results in improved patient care.
Currently, the cancer center is home to more than 60 physicians representing 20 medical and surgical subspecialties. This broad specialization is key to providing a multidisciplinary team of healthcare professionals who, along with a strong support team, work collaboratively on improving diagnosis to treatment times and improved patient outcomes.
The cancer center is additionally home to a robust integrative oncology program that offers patients a broad slate of support services including acupuncture, social services, tai chi and yoga classes, music and art therapy, meditation, rehab services, boutique services and a therapeutic food pantry.
The CoC Accreditation Program provides the framework for St. Tammany Health System 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. When patients receive care at a CoC facility, they also have access to information on clinical trials and new treatments, genetic counseling, and patient-centered services including psycho-social support, a patient navigation process, and a survivorship care plan that documents the care each patient receives and seeks to improve cancer survivors’ quality of life.
Like all CoC-accredited facilities, St. Tammany Health System maintains a cancer registry and contributes data to the National Cancer Data Base (NCDB), a joint program of the CoC and American Cancer Society. This nationwide oncology outcomes database is the largest clinical disease registry in the world. Data on all types of cancer are tracked and analyzed through the NCDB and used to explore trends in cancer care. CoC-accredited cancer centers, 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 facilities with their quality improvement efforts.
There are currently more than 1,500 CoC-accredited cancer programs in the U.S. and Puerto Rico, CoC-accredited facilities diagnose and/or treat more than 70 percent of all newly diagnosed patients with cancer.
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About St. Tammany Health System
The heartbeat of its community, St. Tammany Health System cares for patients and families with excellence, compassion and teamwork. It is nationally recognized for quality, safety and service excellence by CareChex, Leapfrog, Healthgrades, Hospital Compare, Women’s Choice and US News & World Report. The health system is home to 281-bed St. Tammany Parish Hospital Service District No. 1, three diagnostic centers and 12 medical clinics throughout western St. Tammany Parish. Self-supporting, not-for-profit STHS is AA- rated by Fitch and receives no tax funding. More at StTammany.health.
About the Commission on Cancer
Established in 1922 by the American College of Surgeons, the CoC is a consortium of professional organizations dedicated to improving patient outcomes and quality of life for cancer patients through standard-setting, prevention, research, education, and the monitoring of comprehensive, quality care. Its membership includes Fellows of the American College of Surgeons. For more information, visit: www.facs.org/cancer