Regional One Health Cancer Care has earned accreditation from the Commission on Cancer, a national organization that recognizes oncology programs for meeting advanced standards.
The standards have a direct impact on patient care, such as ensuring multidisciplinary treatment and offering robust support services.
Officials look forward to maintaining accreditation and continuing to go above and beyond to provide world-class oncology care for our community.
Regional One Health Cancer Care has earned a prestigious three-year accreditation from the Commission on Cancer (CoC), a national organization created to recognize oncology programs that meet the highest standards of patient care.
Regional One Health submitted an extensive report to the CoC in July 2024 and completed a site visit that November. The CoC recently granted its highest level of accreditation, marking a major milestone and achievement for the cancer program.
Leslie Stroud, Oncology Program Accreditation Manager; and Martin Fleming, MD, FACS, surgical oncologist with Regional One Health Cancer Care and University of Tennessee Health Science Center Surgical Oncology Division Chief, led the way.
“Accreditation is very important for our cancer program,” Dr. Fleming said. “It demonstrates excellence in cancer care and shows that we offer state-of-the-art, multidisciplinary care for our patients. It puts us on the map nationally as a place that’s doing it right.”
“Patients look at quality when they decide where to go for their care, and accreditation shows that we meet national standards for offering the most advanced level of multidisciplinary cancer care,” Stroud said. “It helps us achieve national recognition for our cancer program.”
The American College of Surgeons and American Cancer Society formed the CoC in the 1920s to oversee cancer program accreditation based on best practices for quality care. Stroud said about 1,500 organizations across the United States and Puerto Rico have achieved accreditation, and about 30 Tennessee cancer programs are accredited.
Dr. Martin Fleming says Commission on Cancer accreditation is a way to let patients know they’ll receive the highest level of care: “The standards apply directly to quality patient care, so the ripple effect of accreditation is very tangible and truly transformative for our patients,” he said.
Seeking accreditation is a lengthy and detailed process that focuses on ensuring cancer programs provide top quality care and improved outcomes for patients.
Regional One Health had never offered oncology services before 2022, so they were basically starting from scratch when they began pursuing accreditation three years ago. Bringing in Stroud to lead the process was key, Dr. Fleming said.
Stroud and Dr. Fleming started by convening a Cancer Care Committee that includes representatives from some 30 disciplines, including surgical and medical oncology, pathology, radiology, nursing, social work, pharmacy and more. They also created an expanded, in-house tumor registry, which the CoC requires to collect data related to cancer patients and care.
The committee started working one-by-one on meeting the CoC’s 36 accreditation standards.
“The standards apply directly to quality patient care, so the ripple effect of accreditation is very tangible and truly transformative for our patients,” Dr. Fleming said.
For example, programs must use cancer conferences in which oncologists and other specialists review a patient’s diagnosis and determine the best treatment plan. Regional One Health Cancer Care and UTHSC now have 17 diagnosis-specific cancer conferences meeting every month.
“It’s very powerful for patient care, and these exist because of the accreditation process,” Dr. Fleming said. “Patients benefit from having their case presented by a provider with all the disciplines present. The group analyzes each care plan against the accepted national standards for best care and makes sure we’re providing the highest level of care.”
Accredited cancer centers are also required to have a genetics program.
Regional One Health Cancer Care developed high-risk clinics in melanoma, colorectal cancer, breast cancer, gynecologic cancer, and pancreatic cancer to offer genetic testing and counseling for patients who might have a hereditary risk for cancer.
“A lot of people have genetic risks, and this is a tool that allows us to understand that before they even have a diagnosis,” Dr. Fleming said. “We can intervene and make a big difference.”
Accreditation ensures that patients receive multidisciplinary treatment planning, access to genetic counseling, and support services such as palliative care and social work.
Research is another key standard. Dr. Fleming said 10 percent of patients in an accredited hospital’s cancer database must be participating in research, which means building a robust clinical trials program that can lead to advancements in care for patients everywhere.
Other standards include offering palliative care, social work, specialized rehabilitation, survivor programs, care for side effects like neuropathy and lymphedema, and continuing education for clinical and non-clinical staff.
Stroud said there are different types of accreditation, and Regional One Health Cancer Care received accreditation as an Academic Comprehensive Cancer Program. That means they also meet standards such working with a medical university and training residents and fellows as part of the cancer team, which they have accomplished through their partnership with UTHSC.
Dr. Fleming said he’s proud to be part of an organization that supported the accreditation process thoroughly. He said President and CEO Reginald Coopwood, MD and his leadership team were fully committed to the effort, and their presence during the accreditation site visit was powerful.
“The whole hospital community came together to make it happen,” he said. “The maximum accreditation you can receive is three years, and we received three years with nothing that needed to be fixed. I’ve been involved in accreditation for my entire career, and I’ve never seen that before. It’s a testament to the hospital leadership that we were able to pull it off.”
Now, Stroud and Dr. Fleming look forward to how accreditation will continue to lead to improvements in care. “The accreditation process doesn’t simply stop – we’ll continue working to meet the CoC’s standards and to deliver the best possible patient care,” Stroud said.
Dr. Fleming said key goals for 2025 include adding complex cancer care specialties, building the genetics program to serve patients from throughout the community, and expanding access at Regional One Health’s East Campus to serve additional patients.
Dr. Fleming hopes CoC accreditation will serve as an important first step toward another goal – National Cancer Institute designation. “Memphis has never had an NCI-designated adult cancer care center,” he said. “With the level of commitment we have at Regional One Health, there’s no reason why we can’t aspire in that direction.”
No matter what, exceptional care is the ultimate goal.
“We are dedicated to taking care of our patients the best way we can by using quality resources and the most up-to-date processes,” Stroud said. “The CoC accreditation is a starting point. Meeting these standards is where we start, and we’ll continue to go above and beyond.”
Dr. Fleming said it’s a huge benefit for all patients in the Memphis community.
“It’s not uncommon for new, well-endowed hospitals to be accredited. It’s not terribly common for a safety net hospital that takes care of the underserved community to do this – but it’s so important, because that’s where you can make a huge impact,” Dr. Fleming said. “To offer really good, quality care that people trust in a place they know they can come to – that’s huge.”