Altru Cancer Center Earns National Accreditation From the Commission on Cancer of the American College of Surgeons

Grand Forks, ND —The Commission on Cancer (CoC), a quality program of the American College of Surgeons (ACS) has granted Three-Year Accreditation to the cancer program at Altru Cancer Center. To earn voluntary CoC accreditation, Altru Cancer Center meets 34 CoC quality care standards, is evaluated every three years through a survey process, and maintains levels of excellence in the delivery of comprehensive patient-centered care.

Currently, only 1,500 cancer care programs have earned CoC Accreditation. When cancer patients choose to seek care at Altru Cancer Center, a CoC-accredited cancer center, they are gaining access to comprehensive, state-of-the-art cancer care close to home.

“We are delighted to have the Commission on Cancer validate the quality of the cancer care we provide here at the Altru Cancer Center,” stated Georgia Smith, director of Cancer Services at Altru Health System. “Our collaboration with the Mayo Clinic and the access to their experts, as well as the dedicated and highly experienced physicians and clinicians here at Altru continue to make this a world-class program.”

Altru Cancer Center takes a multidisciplinary approach to treating cancer as a complex group of diseases that requires consultation among surgeons, medical and radiation oncologists, diagnostic radiologists, pathologists, and other cancer specialists. This multidisciplinary partnership results in improved patient care. The CoC Accreditation Program provides the framework for Altru Cancer Center to improve its 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.

About Altru Health System

Rated the number one hospital in North Dakota in 2019 by U.S. News and World Report, Altru Health System is now in its second century of serving the communities of northeastern North Dakota and northwestern Minnesota. Based in Grand Forks, North Dakota, Altru Health System is a physician-led, multispecialty group practice with an acute care hospital, Level II trauma center, specialty hospital, more than two dozen Grand Forks, and regional practice

locations, and a large home care network. As the region’s largest private employer, Altru Health System employs more than 300 physicians and advanced practice providers and 3,800 staff. Altru Health System was the first member of the Mayo Clinic Care Network, extending Mayo Clinic knowledge and expertise to the patients we serve. For more information, visit altru.org.

About the American College of Surgeons

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.