MD Anderson Cancer Center at Cooper recently successfully attained accreditation at its Camden, Voorhees and Mount Laurel locations from the American Society for Radiation Oncology‘s APEx – Accreditation Program for Excellence.
APEx provides external validation that a radiation oncology facility is delivering high-quality patient care.
“Receiving APEx accreditation from ASTRO, the largest radiation oncology society in the world, is an outstanding achievement by our Radiation Oncology team,” Dr. Anthony Dragun, chairman and chief of the Department of Radiation Oncology at MD Anderson at Cooper, said. “Our team was invested in evaluating our processes to meet ASTRO’s high standards for safety and quality. By achieving this accreditation, we demonstrate our unwavering commitment to deliver consistently safe patient-centered cancer care.”
“Seeking and achieving this voluntary APEx accreditation affirms our commitment to excellence in patient care and safety,” Dr. Generosa Grana, director of MD Anderson at Cooper, said. “This accreditation is a direct reflection of our entire team’s dedication and steadfast focus to provide the highest level of radiation oncology services at all of our locations.”
APEx, the fastest-growing radiation oncology practice accreditation program in the U.S., is a voluntary, objective and rigorous multistep process during which a radiation oncology practice is evaluated using consensus-based standards. The practice must demonstrate its safety and quality processes and show that it adheres to patient-centered care by promoting effective communication, coordinated treatments and strong patient engagement.
APEx is the only radiation oncology accreditation program that includes a self-assessment, which allows practices to internally assess compliance with quality improvement standards. The practice then has a facility review by an external surveyor team that includes a radiation oncologist and a medical physicist. The program reflects the recommendations endorsed in the ASTRO publication “Safety is No Accident: A Framework for Quality Radiation Oncology and Care.”
