cancer

National Quality Measure for UConn Health Breast Program

Posted on by
NAPBC plaque 2015
UConn Health’s Carole and Ray Neag Comprehensive Cancer Center has an accredited breast health program. (Janine Gelineau/UConn Health photo)

UConn Health’s Carole and Ray Neag Comprehensive Cancer Center is celebrating its newly accredited breast program.

The National Accreditation Program for Breast Centers has awarded UConn Health’s cancer center full three-year accreditation, a formal acknowledgment from the American College of Surgeons of UConn Health’s commitment to providing high-quality evaluation and management of patients with breast disease.

The distinction “is only given to those centers that have voluntarily committed to provide the highest level of quality breast care and that undergo a rigorous evaluation process and review of their performance,” according to an NAPBC news release. “A breast center that achieves NAPBC accreditation has demonstrated a firm commitment to offer its patients every significant advantage in their battle against breast disease.”

Standards required for accreditation include proficiency in center leadership, clinical management, research, community outreach, professional education, and quality improvement.

“The breast program is judged and evaluated, not only by the excellence of its doctors, but also the ability of the entire patient care staff as well as clinical trial, outreach and research staff to address the multitude of issues that face women with breast health concerns,” says Dr. Susan Tannenbaum, Neag Comprehensive Cancer Center director of medical oncology. “It additionally means that the program is actively working towards improving the breast health of future generations as well as working towards reducing disparities in our patient populations.”

The surveyor’s report gave UConn Health high marks for its multidisciplinary care, an institutional commitment to basic science research, and strong hospital administrative support for the cancer program.

“Accreditation is something that informs patients or supporters of our program, that we are recognized as a dedicated and capable program,” Tannenbaum says. “In getting our accreditation, our breast program was acknowledged to have all those elements needed, but recognized as well to have many things in place to be used as an example of what others should look at for best practices in a breast program, and that is an accomplishment we are all proud of.”

More information about the National Accreditation Program for Breast Centers is available at www.accreditedbreastcenters.org.

 

Follow UConn Health on Facebook, Twitter, YouTube, and SoundCloud.

U.S. Sen. Richard Blumenthal Visits UConn Health

Posted on by
U.S. Sen. Richard Blumenthal speaking to Anne Diamond Chief Executive Officer, John Dempsey Hospital, and Dr. Pramod Srivastava during his recent visit to UConn Health.
U.S. Sen. Richard Blumenthal speaking to Anne Diamond,
Chief Executive Officer, John Dempsey Hospital, and Dr. Pramod Srivastava during his recent visit to UConn Health. (Janine Gelineau/UConn Health photo)

U.S. Sen. Richard Blumenthal recently met with UConn Health officials to discuss the important role data registries will play in the future of health care in Connecticut and across the country. All health care stakeholders, organizations, providers, insurers, and patients, have questions related to the medical care they are receiving or providing. The answers to these questions should be accessible in registries providing patients the data they need to make informed health care decisions and allowing health care organizations to report and benchmark their quality measures against other providers.

“Beyond participation in national data registries, it will be the changes in clinical practice, based on the rigorous data analysis that will define meaningful improvements in health care delivery. The commitment to total outcome transparency will be anxiety provoking at first but, in the end, it will be the ‘quality tide’ that raises all boats: improved patient outcomes, optimal practitioner performance, and value-added, highest quality care that third party payers will demand,” says Dr. Stephen Lahey, chief of cardiothoracic surgery, and vice chair of quality improvement at UConn Health.

U.S. Senator Richard Blumenthal with L to R: Dr. Pramod Srivastava, Blumenthal, Anne Diamond, and Dr. Stephen Laheh
Dr. Pramod Srivastava with U.S. Sen. Blumenthal, Anne Diamond, and Dr. Stephen Lahey. (Janine Gelineau/UConn Health photo)

During his visit, Blumenthal also toured the research lab of Dr. Pramod Srivastava, professor of immunology and medicine and director of the Carole and Ray Neag Comprehensive Cancer Center. Blumenthal learned about Srivastava’s recently approved FDA genomics-driven clinical study for patients with advanced stage ovarian cancer, in which personalized cancer vaccines will be developed for each patient.