82 hospitals receive prestigious achievement award from the American College of Surgeons

The American College of Surgeons’ Commission on Cancer has released the 82 recipients of the 2009 Outstanding Achievement Award. Included on the list is Upstate University Hospital, located in Syracuse, New York, and Puget Sound VA Health Care System in Seattle, Washington.

The award is given to hospitals with a cancer program that offers excellence in patient care. Doctors from close to 500 medical facilities nationwide completed a survey and submitted it to the American College of Surgeons. Representatives then visited several facilities and conducted evaluations before designating award winners.

The Outstanding Achievement Award, or OAA, was first given in 2004 to recognize hospital cancer programs that provided the very best in cancer care. Winners must be in compliance with six standards representing five areas of cancer program activity, including cancer research, community outreach and cancer committee leadership. 18% of the 432 cancer programs surveyed in 2009 received an OAA.

Cancer treatment is an exciting area of medicine, as new developments are found every day. Many cancer programs are dedicated to researching various types of cancer, including mesothelioma, in an effort to one day find a cure.

Also on the list of OAA winners is Connecticut’s Greenwich Hospital, Florida’s Baptist-South Miami Regional Cancer Program, and Hawaii’s Tripler Army Medical Center in Honolulu.

The full list of recipients can be viewed by visiting www.facs.org.