SHREVEPORT, La. – For patients, national recognition matters because it reflects the quality and safety of their care. Mary Bird Perkins Cancer Center has earned a prestigious national certification that reinforces its commitment to delivering the highest standards in cancer treatment. The Cancer Center’s locations in North Louisiana are newly-certified by the Quality Oncology Practice Initiative (QOPI) Certification Program – indicating that patients at these facilities receive care that meets rigorous, nationally recognized benchmarks.
The QOPI Certification Program awards a three-year certification for outpatient hematology-oncology practices that meet nationally-recognized standards for quality cancer care.
“When cancer enters someone’s life, they want to ensure that they are receiving the very best care, and our QOPI certification is a testament to this,” said Kim Hicks, Administrator, North Louisiana, Mary Bird Perkins Cancer Center.” “Mary Bird Perkins places ensuring treatments are optimized for every patient, along with providing the compassion and support to help ease the way during what can be one of the most challenging times of their life.”
The QOPI® Certification Program, LLC was launched in January 2010, and over 300 practices are currently certified. This certification for outpatient oncology practices is the first program of its kind for oncology in the United States and in 2016 was expanded internationally. Practices that are QOPI® Certified successfully met the standards and objectives of the QOPI® Certification Program, which includes scoring above the threshold on the key QOPI® quality measures and meeting chemotherapy safety standards established by the Society and the Oncology Nursing Society.
“When a practice earns QOPI certification, it demonstrates a strong commitment to delivering safe, high quality cancer care,” said Board Chair of the Association Lynn M. Schuchter, MD, FASCO. “For patients, this certification adds confidence that their treatment team continually strives to deliver the best possible care.”
To become QOPI® Certified, practices submit to an evaluation of their entire practice and documentation standards. QOPI® Certification Program staff and volunteer committee members conduct an on-site survey, verify that the evaluation and documents are correct, and determine if practices meet core standards.
For more information on QOPI Certification and all of ASCO’s innovative quality improvement programs, please visit: https://society.asco.org/practice-patients/quality-improvement/quality-programs.
Learn more about Mary Bird Perkins’ commitment to excellence, and its position as the premier cancer care provider in Louisiana and Southwest Mississippi. Visit marybird.org.