The Community Hospital Comprehensive Cancer Program at FirstHealth Moore Regional Hospital has received a three-year approval with commendation from the Commission on Cancer (CoC) of the American College of Surgeons.

That is the highest level of approval granted by the CoC, which sets quality-of-care standards for cancer programs nationwide.

The CoC reviews approved programs at least every three years to ensure that they meet its standards. Moore Regional was first approved as a Community Hospital Cancer Program in 1995 and as a Community Hospital Compre-hensive Cancer Program in 1999. The program received its first three-year approval with commendation in 2005, the first year that commendation ratings were available.

Earning the commendation level of approval means that a cancer program goes beyond the basic requirements, according to Kerry Husted, the hospital's administrative director of pharmacy/oncology service line.

"We exceeded the standards in nearly every area they evaluated," she said.

The CoC inspectors look at how well a cancer program meets 36 different standards of quality.

"They look at the scope of services we offer and at staff training, facilities and equipment," Husted said. "They want to see that the community is being offered the absolute best in cancer care."

Dr. Jeffrey Acker, a radiation oncologist at Moore Regional and the Cancer Center's medical director, said it is good to have objective outside experts review the cancer program periodically.

"Other than reputation and word of mouth from patients, there are very few external ways of evaluating the quality of a program," he said. "This is one of those ways. There are many cancer programs that go through this process and not too many get commendation, so we're happy."