Providence announced in early May that its five Los Angeles County hospitals have earned three-year accreditation as an Integrated Network Cancer Program from the American College of Surgeons Commission on Cancer.
 
The accreditation allows the Renton, Wash.-based health system to create a countywide network of surgeons, medical and radiation oncologists, diagnostic radiologists, pathologists and other cancer specialists for any cancer patient at the company’s five L.A. County hospitals.
 
The goal is to improve cancer care at the hospitals: Saint John’s Health Center in Santa Monica; Saint Joseph Medical Center in Burbank; Holy Cross Medical Center in Mission Hills; Little Company of Mary Hospital in Torrance; and the jointly operated Providence Cedars-Sinai Tarzana Medical Center in Tarzana. Together, the hospitals have 1,726 licensed beds.

“This accreditation certifies that when cancer patients come to Providence, they have access to comprehensive high-quality care, close to home,” Brad Bott, network administrator for Providence Southern California’s Clinical Institutes, said in the announcement.
 
“Patients can be reassured of a patient-centric program across the entire county with access to the full menu of cancer services,” he added.
 
To earn accreditation, cancer programs must meet 34 quality care standards and be evaluated every three years through a survey process. Accredited cancer centers take a multidisciplinary approach to treating cancer as a complex group of diseases that requires consultation among various specialists.

For example, Providence St. Joseph Medical Center has a specialty in cancer-related
genetics, while Providence Holy Cross Medical Center has a pancreatic cancer center. And Providence St. John’s Health Center has a cancer research institute that until the start of this year went by the name John Wayne Cancer Institute.

The new arrangement gives patients access to the full spectrum of cancer care, including prevention,  treatment and follow-up care.