MountainStar Healthcare is raising the level of care for rectal cancer patients in Utah at its flagship facility—St. Mark’s Hospital. The hospital is the first and only Utah hospital to receive the accreditation from the National Accreditation Program for Rectal Cancer (NAPRC) of the American College of Surgeons.
Millcreek/Salt Lake City, Utah – St. Mark’s Hospital has earned a three-year accreditation from the National Accreditation Program for Rectal Cancer (NAPRC), a quality program of the American College of Surgeons.
To achieve voluntary NAPRC accreditation, a rectal center must demonstrate compliance with the NAPRC standards addressing program management, clinical services, and quality improvement for patients. Centers are required to establish a multidisciplinary rectal cancer team that includes clinical representatives from surgery, pathology, radiology, radiation oncology, and medical oncology.
Additionally, the program met standards addressing the clinical services that the rectal cancer program provides, including Carcinoembryonic Antigen (CEA testing), Magnetic Resonance Imaging (MRI), and Computerized Tomography (CT) imaging for cancer staging which allow patients to start treatment within a defined timeframe. Rectal cancer programs accredited by the NAPRC undergo a site visit every three years and are also accredited by the American College of Surgeons Commission on Cancer.
“We are thrilled to officially announce that St. Mark’s Hospital is now the first and only NAPRC-accredited hospital in Utah. This accreditation is the gold standard of care for rectal cancer and we are honored to be the first in the state to earn this achievement. We are also proud to be named the second-ever HCA Healthcare hospital to receive this recognition,” Jamison Robinett, assistant administrator at St. Mark’s Hospital said. “We are incredibly thankful for our colorectal surgeons, Drs. Murday, Crume and Melvin, and for our physician partners in oncology, radiology and pathology for their commitment to and support of pursuing this program which will help solidify our position as the regional leader for colorectal care,” he added.
Accreditation by the NAPRC is granted only to those programs that are committed to providing the best possible care to patients with rectal cancer. The NAPRC provides the structure and resources develop and operate a high-quality rectal center and accredited programs follow a model for organizing and managing a rectal center to ensure multidisciplinary, integrated, comprehensive rectal cancer services.
About the National Accreditation Program for Rectal Cancer
The NAPRC was developed through a collaboration between the Commission on Cancer (CoC), a quality program of the American College of Surgeons, and the Optimizing the Surgical Treatment of Rectal Cancer (OSTRiCh) Consortium, as well as the American College of Radiology (ACR), the American Society of Colon and Rectal Surgeons (ASCRS), and the College of American Pathologists (CAP). The NAPRC is based on successful international models that emphasize program structure, patient care processes, performance improvement, and performance measures. Its goal is to ensure that rectal cancer patients receive appropriate care using a multidisciplinary approach. Learn more about the NAPRC.
About the American College of Surgeons Commission on Cancer
Established in 1922 by the ACS, the CoC is a consortium of professional organizations dedicated to improving patient outcomes and quality of life for cancer patients through standard-setting, prevention, research, education, and the monitoring of comprehensive quality care. Learn more about the CoC.