HICKORY, NC – Mar. 24, 2015 – Catawba Valley Medical Center (CVMC) announced today that it has
been awarded a
three-year term of accreditation in radiation oncology as the result of a recent review by the American College of Radiology
(ACR). Radiation oncology (radiation therapy) 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.
“This is a significant accomplishment for CVMC’s Comprehensive
Cancer Center,” said CVMC Medical Physicist Len Hurst, MS DABR,
RSO. “Equipped with advanced radiation technology, we treat over
50 patients a day within nationally accepted standards of care and with
a staff that is qualified and committed to ongoing education and certification
to administer a broad array of radiation treatments within established
safety guidelines.”
By providing access to specialized cancer treatments locally, CVMC eases
a burden on the 300,000 patients it serves drawing from a 5-county region.
As the first hospital in the area to earn the ACR seal of accreditation
for radiation oncology, CVMC completed a rigorous review process demonstrating
it meets or exceeds the highest levels of quality and patient safety adhering
to specific practice guidelines and technical standards developed by the
ACR. Following a peer-review evaluation by board-certified radiation oncologists
and assessments by medical physicists comprised of experts in the field,
CVMC earned this accreditation for its care and treatment, patient safety,
personnel qualifications, adequacy of facility equipment, quality control
procedures, and quality assurance programs. The findings are reported
to the ACR Committee on Radiation Oncology Accreditation, which subsequently
provides the cancer center with a comprehensive report used for continuous
practice improvement.
ABOUT THE ACR – the nation’s oldest and most widely accepted radiation oncology
accrediting body, with over 600 accredited sites, and 27 years of accreditation
experience. A national professional organization serving more than 36,000
diagnostic/interventional radiologists, radiation oncologists, nuclear
medicine physicians, and medical physicists, the ACR offers programs focusing
on the practice of medical imaging and radiation oncology and the delivery
of comprehensive health care services.