Rowan Medical Center made history last year.

Novant Health announced Tuesday its Rowan Medical Center received a three-year certification with commendation from the Commission on Cancer of the American College of Surgeons. The accreditation review took place Nov., 5. The Commission on Cancer awarded accreditation to Novant Health Rowan one month later.

To earn voluntary accreditation, a cancer program must meet or exceed 34 Commission on Cancer quality care standards.

Novant Health Rowan’s accreditation with commendation means it exceeded standard requirements at the time of inspection.

We’re particularly pleased about that because our folks worked so hard to make it happen,” said Novant Health Rowan Medical Center President Dari Caldwell about the accreditation with commendation. “It means our physicians are treating patients and operating at the top of their game with the most current data and current research in that particular area.”

Caldwell said Rowan Medical Center began looking at cancer accreditation soon after it became a part of the Novant Health System, which occurred in 2008. She said in 2010 the hospital started implementing some of the standards that would ultimately lead to accreditation. Some of the examples Caldwell gave included a breast cancer screening program and a tumor board, which reviews all tumor cases.

Some of the standards for accreditation require programs to have been in place for a specified time period, such as data collection for two years.

“We finally reached a point where all our Ts were crossed and our Is dotted and we could apply for accreditation,” she said.

To receive CoC accreditation, Rowan Medical Center also demonstrated that patients receiving care have access to information on clinical trials and new treatments, genetic counseling, and patient-centered services including psycho- social support, a patient navigation process, and a survivorship care plan that documents the care each patient receives and seeks to improve cancer survivors’ quality of life.

“This recognition acknowledges that we take a multidisciplinary approach to treating cancer that includes the partnership of surgeons, medical and radiation oncologists, diagnostic radiologists, pathologists and clinicians across our care team,” said Novant Health Rowan Medical Center oncologist Dr. William Brinkley.

With accreditation now on the hospital’s list of accolades, Caldwell said the Novant Health Rowan would expand its program in some ways, such as recruiting additional oncologists.

Contact reporter Josh Bergeron at 704-797-4246