ST. GEORGE – Intermountain Healthcare Southwest Region’s Dixie Regional and Valley View medical centers have been awarded a three-year term of accreditation in radiation oncology as the result of a recent review by the American College of Radiology.
Radiation oncology is the careful use of high-energy radiation to treat cancer. A radiation oncologist may use radiation to cure cancer or to relieve a cancer patient’s pain.
“We have been compared to a national benchmark for providing the safest standards and have met them,” said Aaron Brammer, regional manager of Intermountain’s radiation oncology programs.
The ACR is the nation’s oldest and most widely accepted radiation oncology accrediting body, with nearly 500 accredited sites, and 25 years of accreditation experience. The ACR seal of accreditation represents the highest level of quality and patient safety. It is awarded only to facilities meeting specific practice guidelines and technical standards developed by ACR after a peer-review evaluation by board-certified radiation oncologists and medical physicists who are experts in the field. Patient care and treatment, patient safety, personnel qualifications, adequacy of facility equipment, quality control procedures, and quality assurance programs are assessed. The findings are reported to the ACR Committee on Radiation Oncology Accreditation, which subsequently provides the practice with a comprehensive report they can use for continuous practice improvement.
“Our radiation oncology department has always worked diligently to provide high quality care for our patients,” said Jane Jensen, regional director of Intermountain’s cancer programs. “The ACR accreditation reaffirms their continuing commitment to excellence and confirms their compliance to national guidelines and benchmarks.”
The ACR is a national professional organization serving more than 36,000 diagnostic/interventional radiologists, radiation oncologists, nuclear medicine physicians, and medical physicists with programs focusing on the practice of medical imaging and radiation oncology and the delivery of comprehensive health care services.
The accreditation is vital to Dixie Regional’s ability to practice in these areas. Terri Draper, Communications Director for Intermountain Healthcare, Southwest Region, said that the accreditation is renewed every three years after a host of surveyors come and scrutinize the hospital’s facilities and services.
It does not represent an expansion of services, but Draper said that roughly 95 percent of patient cancer needs can be met at Dixie Regional. Although cancer patients may seek out treatments elsewhere, data shows that the majority of those resident to this area can and do obtain treatment here locally.
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