Accredited since 1936

Portland, OR

Our current Cancer Committee’s structure is set around compliance with Commission on Cancer (CoC) Standards. Our committee and institution value these standards; consequently, organizing our committee meetings, as well as providing many of our ancillary services around these standards has been influential for the growth of our cancer program. Cancer navigation may be one of the best examples here. Our cancer navigation team has been instrumental and an integral program, coordinating care throughout our Veterans Integrated Service Network (states in the Northwestern U.S. and Alaska) as well as supporting other cancer programs. 

We tend to focus on patient outcomes as the most important quality of evaluating care. Here, most of our team is well-trained and committed to high-quality patient care. The impact of accreditation is probably more centered on the aspects of care that “take a village.” What we mean is that having the infrastructure of our cancer committee and CoC Standards strengthens the connections with those working in this village. We have no doubt that the partnerships, collaborations, and strengths of these connections of the various “silos” within our cancer program enhance the quality of the work as well as the quality of the environment of our workplace.

Visit VA Portland Health Care System to learn more about their program.