Markey earns Outstanding Achievement Award from Commission on Cancer

The UK Markey Cancer Center is one of 16 accredited cancer programs nationwide to receive the 2017 Outstanding Achievement Award from the American College of Surgeons Commission on Cancer (CoC).

Established in 2004, the award was created to "recognize cancer programs that strive for excellence in demonstrating compliance with the Commission on Cancer standards and are committed to high-quality cancer care," according to the organization.

"I'm incredibly proud of the efforts our physicians, nurses, and other medical staff put in on a daily basis," said Dr. Mark Evers, director of Markey. "This latest national award is another recognition of the hard work that goes on here, and the top-tier care we're able to offer patients from the Commonwealth and beyond."

The purpose of the award is to encourage cancer programs to raise the bar on quality cancer care, with the ultimate goal of increasing awareness about high quality, patient-centered care. In addition, the award:

• Recognizes those cancer programs that achieve excellence meeting the CoC Standards.
• Motivates other cancer programs to work toward improving their level of quality cancer care.
• Facilitates dialogue between award recipients and healthcare professionals at other cancer facilities for the purpose of sharing best practices.
• Encourages honorees to serve as quality care resources to other cancer programs.

Markey's cancer program was evaluated on 34 program standards categorized within five cancer program activity areas: program management, clinical services, continuum of care services, patient outcomes and data quality. The cancer program was further evaluated on seven commendation standards. To be eligible, all award recipients must have received commendation ratings in all seven commendation standards, in addition to receiving a compliance rating for each of the 27 other standards.

Earlier this year, U.S. News & World Report named Markey one of the top 50 cancer programs in the nation. Additionally, Markey received a prestigious National Cancer Institute designation in 2013 and is up for renewal of this designation in 2018.