Article
Elevating Oncology Programs Through CoC Accreditation
Introduction
Oncology accreditation programs offer unique advantages for hospitals and health systems. Through programs such as Commission on Cancer (CoC) accreditation, healthcare facilities hold themselves to higher quality and operational standards, gain access to reporting tools and data from the National Cancer Database (NCDB), and instill greater trust and confidence in the level of care they provide. More than 70 percent of cancer patients seek treatment at CoC-accredited facilities across the United States.
However, some challenges associated with CoC accreditation—which include time-consuming data collection and submission processes, inefficiencies, and data integrity concerns—can prevent healthcare facilities from successfully obtaining or maintaining this accreditation. With an expected increase in new cancer diagnoses, oncology accreditation grows even more important, suggesting a greater need for hospitals to navigate these challenges effectively as they support this growing population.
This article provides an overview of the benefits and challenges of CoC accreditation and shares strategies for how oncology programs can navigate accreditation processes more efficiently. It explains how Q-Centrix’s accreditation guidance and comprehensive oncology solution can help hospitals and health systems achieve or maintain CoC accreditation, further their commitment to quality care, and guide data-driven process improvements along the way.
Benefits
- Improved quality of care. According to a survey of CoC-accredited facilities, nine out of 10 cancer programs said accreditation improves quality of patient care.
- Increased public trust and reputation. With more than 70 percent of oncology patients pursuing care at CoC-accredited facilities, it’s clear that accreditation status plays a role in enhancing program credibility and attracting patients seeking the best possible care.
- Quality improvement tools and resources. CoC-accredited facilities have access to reporting tools from NCDB, providing valuable resources for quality improvement, quality assurance, and surveillance measures.
- Benchmarking data. Facilities can review regional and state benchmarks for CoC-accredited programs, run benchmark reports, and compare quality-related performance measures with aggregated CoC-accredited programs.
Challenges
Time-Consuming Processes
Staff must regularly collect and submit oncology registry data to NCDB, a time-consuming process that prevents many from focusing on higher-value activities such as performance improvement. Considering that 58 percent of oncologists identify “spending too many hours at work” as the top contributor to their burnout, many facilities may struggle to prioritize accreditation without adding to their staff’s existing workload.
Rising Labor Costs
As labor costs continue to escalate, recruiting, hiring, and training the necessary FTEs to manage accreditation tasks is likely not a viable solution for many facilities.
Inconsistent Data Management
Oncology programs with multiple facilities may have inconsistent approaches to collecting, managing, and submitting data, leading to inefficient or duplicative processes.
Data Backlogs
Q-Centrix has found that the majority of hospitals face at least a one-year clinical data backlog in oncology. In addition to increasing workloads, backlogs can jeopardize accreditation status.
Data Integrity Challenges
Insufficient methods for ensuring data integrity can hinder an oncology program’s ability to deliver quality patient care and jeopardize its accreditation status. A recent study found that 15 percent of a cancer center’s patient records had documentation errors—most of which were major enough to potentially impact a patient’s course of care.
How Q-Centrix Can Help
As a partner to more than 185 CoC-accredited programs across the country, Q-Centrix offers accreditation guidance and a comprehensive oncology solution that includes clinical data capture and submission to NCDB; Rapid Cancer Reporting System (RCRS); Surveillance, Epidemiology, and End Results Program (SEER); and state registries. With Q-Centrix’s partnership, facilities can benefit from:
Expertise
Our team of over 300 ODS-certified professionals have extensive oncology registry experience, abstracting more than 130,000 oncology patients in the last year alone. They complete ongoing education and training to stay current on registry guidelines.
Clinical Data Support
Q-Centrix performs the clinical data tasks needed for maintaining accreditation, including submissions, meeting attendance, and follow-up metrics for compliance. With our team managing oncology data and submission, clinical and quality teams can confidently leverage their timely, accurate data to make informed decisions about oncology program strategies.
Data Integrity
Q-Centrix conducts multiple quality checks throughout the data lifecycle, spending over 6,000 hours a year completing quality touches across oncology partners. Some of these quality checks, such as evaluating specific data elements against CoC benchmarks, were developed exclusively for CoC facilities.
Compliance Tools and Templates
Q-Centrix provides tools and templates for tracking compliance with CoC standards, along with education on standard changes, survey preparation, and more. Through these efforts, Q-Centrix has brought more than 50 oncology programs to accreditation.
Market-Leading Analytics
Our proprietary, market-leading technology allows facilities to capture and analyze more than 250 data points, offering real-time analytics for tracking accreditation standard compliance, understanding disease trends and referral patterns, identifying gaps in care, retaining and attracting patients, and making informed decisions with confidence.
Enterprise-level Insights
Q-Centrix’s enterprise platform combines technology, data, clinical expertise, and insights across the entire healthcare enterprise, enabling facilities to benefit from easier preparation for accreditation reviews, more efficient processes, and unparalleled access to data.
Strategies for an Effective
Accreditation Process
Prioritize Accreditation
While oncology programs have many competing priorities, accreditation cannot be overlooked. It plays a crucial role in helping programs improve patient care quality, gain access to benchmarking data and quality improvement resources, and establish a strong reputation for excellence in their community. Clinical and quality leaders should ensure their teams have the resources needed for accreditation duties, whether by reallocating responsibilities or exploring partnerships externally.
Seek Out a Clinical Data and Accreditation Partner
By partnering with a third-party organization that can manage clinical data and submission and provide accreditation support, healthcare teams can focus on patient care and performance improvement. An ideal partner offers the expertise of qualified ODS-certified professionals, resources for tracking compliance, and user-friendly analytics tools to facilitate meaningful engagement with data.
Adopt Robust Data Integrity Processes
Timely, relevant data are the first step toward accreditation. With many oncology programs experiencing data backlogs or documentation errors, ensuring that data are accurate and up to date is essential. For an effective approach, data quality checks should be built into the entire data lifecycle.
Centralize Clinical Data Management
Using the same technology across all sites and departments increases data oversight and quality assurance, allowing clinical leadership to implement changes that can result in better care, greater efficiencies, and a simplified accreditation preparation process.
Conclusion
CoC accreditation can help oncology programs improve patient care, enhance quality improvement efforts, and establish oncology programs as providers of quality care. With an enterprise clinical data management platform and the support of an experienced third-party partner, healthcare facilities will have the resources and expertise needed to achieve or maintain accreditation, focus on patient care and quality improvement, and advance their ability to drive excellence in cancer care.
