BFMC Oncology Department Earns Accreditation

GREENFIELD — Baystate Franklin Medical Center’s cancer program was recently awarded a three-year accreditation with commendation by the American College of Surgeons (ACOS). To earn the ACOS accreditation, the Oncology Department demonstrated a high level of compliance with standards that represent the full scope of the cancer program (cancer committee leadership, cancer data management, clinical services, research, community outreach, and quality improvement).

The ACOS accreditation program sets quality-of-care standards for cancer programs and reviews the programs to ensure they conform to the standards. There are currently 36 standards cancer programs must meet. Accreditation is given only to those facilities that voluntarily commit to providing the highest level of quality cancer care, and that undergo a rigorous evaluation process and review of their performance.

“This award is the result of a strong team effort, from the doctors and nurses to all of our support staff,” said Naomi Bolognani, Baystate Franklin Medical Center’s nurse manager of Oncology. “I’m proud to say that we met all 36 standards with no deficiencies, and in some instances, we were well above the national accepted standards. Baystate Franklin’s cancer program has always been a very strong one.

“The surveyors were particularly impressed with the timeliness with which we abstracted our cancer cases. I have to thank Maureen Casey, our cancer registrar, for her excellent work in that area,” Bolognani added. “The high quality of our program is evidenced by our outstanding patient satisfaction scores every year, and it is obvious that our number-one priority is patient focus. We have a great cancer care team here, and I am proud to be a part of it.”