RWJBarnabas Health Facilities Earn National Accreditation

New Brunswick, NJ (August 12, 2024) – Cancer programs at several RWJBarnabas Health facilities, in partnership with Rutgers Cancer Institute, the state’s only National Cancer Institute-designated Comprehensive Cancer Center, were recently granted Three-Year Accreditation from the American College of Surgeons Commission on Cancer (CoC).

Facilities that received this accreditation include:

• Jersey City Medical Center
• Community Medical Center
• Robert Wood Johnson University Hospital Somerset
• Monmouth Medical Center Southern Campus
• Robert Wood Johnson University Hospital Hamilton

Robert Wood Johnson University Hospital Hamilton also received the National Accreditation Program for Breast Centers (NAPBC) recognition from the American College of Surgeons, which is granted to centers committed to providing the best and most comprehensive available care to patients with breast cancer. Robert Wood Johnson University Hospital in New Brunswick joined the list of facilities that received accreditation in 2022.

“This reaccreditation by the Commission on Cancer reaffirms the comprehensive value that our multidisciplinary cancer program provides our communities across New Jersey, with renowned specialists who champion cancer prevention and treatment through innovative technology and targeted cancer treatments supported by the latest research,” said Steven K. Libutti, MD, FACS, Director of Rutgers Cancer Institute and Senior Vice President, Oncology Services, RWJBarnabas Health. “Rutgers Cancer Institute and RWJBarnabas Health will continue to provide world-class cancer care across our system.”

RWJBarnabas Health and Rutgers Cancer Institute are broadening New Jersey’s access to cancer care with the Jack and Sheryl Morris Cancer Center, New Jersey’s only freestanding cancer hospital, slated to open in New Brunswick in early 2025. The Melchiorre Cancer Center at Cooperman Barnabas Medical Center in Livingston will also begin providing cancer care in 2025, and the Vogel Medical Campus in Monmouth County will include outpatient comprehensive cancer services in 2026.

To earn voluntary CoC accreditation, a cancer program must meet 34 CoC quality care standards, be evaluated every three years through a survey process, and maintain levels of excellence in the delivery of comprehensive patient-centered care.

The CoC Accreditation Program provides the framework for hospitals, including RWJBarnabas Health facilities, to improve the quality of patient care through various cancer-related programs that focus on the full spectrum of cancer care, including prevention, early diagnosis, cancer staging, optimal treatment, rehabilitation, life-long follow-up for recurrent disease, and end-of-life care. When patients receive care at a CoC facility, they also have access to information on clinical trials and new treatments, genetic counseling, and patient-centered services, including psycho-social support, a patient navigation process, and a survivorship care plan that documents the care each patient receives and seeks to improve cancer survivors’ quality of life.

Like all healthcare systems with CoC-accredited facilities, RWJBarnabas Health maintains a cancer registry and contributes data to the National Cancer Data Base (NCDB), a joint program of the CoC and the American Cancer Society. This nationwide oncology outcomes database is the largest clinical disease registry in the world. Data on all types of cancer are tracked and analyzed through the NCDB and used to explore trends in cancer care. CoC-accredited cancer centers, in turn, have access to information derived from this type of data analysis, which is used to create national, regional, and state benchmark reports. These reports help CoC facilities with their quality improvement efforts.

Established in 1922 by the American College of Surgeons, the CoC is a consortium of professional organizations dedicated to improving patient outcomes and quality of life for cancer patients through standard-setting, prevention, research, education, and the monitoring of comprehensive, quality care. Its membership includes Fellows of the American College of Surgeons. For more information, visit: www.facs.org/cancer