Bridgeport Hospital earns highest-level accreditation from the American College of Surgeons Commission on Cancer

BRIDGEPORT, CT (July 31, 2017) – The Commission on Cancer (CoC) of the American College of Surgeons (ACS) has granted its highest-level “gold” three-year accreditation with commendation to the cancer program at Bridgeport Hospital. Gold level means the hospital received commendation in all seven CoC cancer program standards.

“Bridgeport Hospital has long had an outstanding reputation for high quality cancer care and has maintained CoC accreditation since 1933,” said Scott Thornton, MD, physician liaison to the hospital’s multidisciplinary Cancer Committee. “This latest achievement is the strong acknowledgement of years of hard work and dedication on the part of physicians, nurses and others who provide care to our cancer patients and their families.”

To earn CoC accreditation, a cancer program must meet or exceed quality care standards, be evaluated every three years through a survey process and maintain levels of excellence in the delivery of comprehensive patient-centered care. Three-year accreditation with commendation is awarded only to a facility that exceeds standard requirements at the time of its triennial survey.

“I could not be happier that we received gold award status, the highest level of recognition and an important goal of mine,” said Peg Parniawski, RN, the nursing director who oversaw cancer services at Bridgeport Hospital until a recent service line consolidation with Smilow Cancer Hospital at Yale New Haven. “We are integrating two superb cancer programs under the Smilow banner.”

As a CoC-accredited cancer center, Bridgeport Hospital takes a multidisciplinary approach to treating cancer as a complex group of diseases that requires consultation among surgeons, medical and radiation oncologists, diagnostic radiologists, pathologists and other cancer specialists. This multidisciplinary partnership results in improved patient care.

“Cancer care in the Bridgeport Hospital service area continues to improve through its integration with Smilow Cancer Hospital and the Yale Cancer Center,” said medical oncologist Jerry Malefatto, MD, another physician leader of the Cancer Committee “For example, Smilow Cancer Hospital outpatient care centers were established in Fairfield and Trumbull in 2014, giving patients access to a higher level and broader range of cancer services, new facilities, and access to more innovative therapeutic clinical trials.”

The American Cancer Society estimates that nearly 1.7 million cases of cancer will be diagnosed this year. CoC-accredited facilities diagnose and/or treat more than 70 percent of all newly diagnosed cancer patients. When cancer patients choose to seek care locally at a CoC-accredited cancer center, they gain access to comprehensive, state-of-the-art cancer care close to home.