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Vail Health’s Shaw Cancer Center earns national honor

The Commission on Cancer of the American College of Surgeons granted its 2019 Outstanding Achievement Award to the Shaw Cancer Center, one of a select group of 49 accredited cancer programs throughout the U.S. Award criteria were based on qualitative and quantitative surveys of cancer programs conducted throughout the year.

“We are honored and thrilled to receive this prestigious recognition from the (Commission on Cancer),” said Stacy Toyama, Vice President of Shaw Cancer Center. “Our team prioritizes high quality care and to have an esteemed organization acknowledge is an honor that furthers Shaw’s renowned reputation.” 

The award is intended to:

• Recognize cancer programs that achieve excellence in providing quality care to cancer patients.
• Motivate other cancer programs to work toward improving their level of care.
• Facilitate dialogue between award recipients and health care professionals at other cancer facilities for the purpose of sharing best practices.
• Encourage honorees to serve as quality-care resources to other cancer programs.

“More and more, we’re finding that patients and their families want to know how the health care institutions in their communities compare with one another,” said Lawrence N. Shulman, MD, MACP, Chair of the Commission on Cancer. “They want access to information in terms of who’s providing the best quality of care, and they want to know about overall patient outcomes. Through this recognition program, I’d like to think we’re playing a small but vital role in helping them make informed decisions on their cancer care.”

The 49 award-winning cancer care programs represent approximately 7% of programs surveyed in 2019. 

“These cancer programs currently represent the best of the best when it comes to cancer care,” Shulman said. “Each of these facilities is not just meeting nationally recognized standards for the delivery of quality cancer care, they are exceeding them.”

 Shaw Cancer Center has received a gold accreditation from the Commission on Cancer, the highest level achievable by the survey. It also achieved its Quality Oncology Practice Initiative re-accreditation in 2019 through the American Society of Clinical Oncology.