ACOS - Commission on Cancer Update

A Year-in-Review of ACOA’s Collaborative Partnership with ACOS-CoC

I have been representing the ACOA as the External Liaison (EL) to the American College of Surgeons’ Commission on Cancer (CoC) for the past 4 years. As my role has evolved during this time so has the collaborative relationship strengthened between the two organizations. Being assigned to the CoC’s Accreditation Committee has allowed me to participate in standard revisions, an awareness of what the future is bringing regarding accreditations, functioning as a conduit for the ACOA members concerns and questions and the CoC’s interest in what their accredited institutions are needing, establishing a rapport with their staff and developing a valuable network with members.

Some of the benefits that have come out of the collaborative relationship over this past year include the CoC sharing their membership list with the ACOA in an effort to enhance recruitment. The CoC is also interested in retaining and recruiting new institutions to their accreditation list so they are planning an open dialogue with ACOA members during the College Networking Breakfast at the Fall Conference in Atlanta. This will be an opportunity for ACOA members to discuss directly with the CoC issues they may have regarding the accreditation process. The ACOA sponsored a booth at the CoC’s summer “2006 and Beyond: Measuring the Quality of Your Cancer Care” seminar in Chicago. With over 300 in attendance, it afforded the ACOA an opportunity to speak with many of the participants about the benefits of being a member of the college.

Both organizations are benefiting from this collaborative relationship as it affords them ongoing opportunities to be more successful in meeting each of their organizations’ goals.

The ACoS-CoC Report was prepared by ACOA/ACoS-CoC liaison, Jeannie O’Leary. Her role as liaison is to enhance our relationship and collaboration by providing a forum for the exchange of ideas, initiatives, critical issues, and actions that impact cancer care, data collection, and research. We have the opportunity to bring matters of importance for ACOA to the CoC, as well as communicate CoC activities to the ACOA. If you have input on particular issues regarding credentialing and ACoS standards, please contact Jeannie O’Leary.