New York, NY ― Queens Cancer Center (QCC) of Queens Hospital, part of the New York City Health and Hospitals Corporation (HHC), has received the highest accreditation award possible from the Commission on Cancer of the American College of Surgeons (ACoS). The Gold designation recognizes QCC’s outstanding clinical services for patients, as well as its commitment to improving cancer care through quality research and education.

QCC offers a full range of diagnostic and treatment services for patients, including chemotherapy, surgical oncology, radiation therapy, pain management and palliative care, social work services, and oncologic psychiatry. The Center is affiliated with Mount Sinai’s Icahn School of Medicine. QCC, like all HHC facilities, accepts most insurance and patients are treated regardless of their ability to pay. The Center is located at 82-86 164th Street, Jamaica, Queens. For more information, patients and their families can call (718) 883-4673.

The Gold award follows a comprehensive review of QCC in February by the ACoS Commission on Cancer, a consortium of professional organizations that sets professional standards for cancer centers across the country and monitors the quality of care that patients receive. A review of a cancer center by the ACoS Commission on Cancer is considered the equivalent of a Joint Commission review of a standard acute care hospital.

“Our entire hospital community is extremely proud of our Queens Cancer Center for achieving these outstanding survey results,” said Julius Wool, Executive Director of Queens Hospital Center. “We have long known that this is the borough’s foremost cancer center led by a consummate team of committed and caring individual providers and support staff with a unique ability to connect with its patients. We receive tremendous positive patient feedback for the Queens Cancer Center. It is indeed gratifying to have the Commission on Cancer validate what we know to be the case.”

To receive the Gold Award a cancer center has to reach the level of “commendation” in at least seven of eight areas designated by the Commission on Cancer. QCC received commendation in all eight. QCC also was noted for its level of nursing care, with most of its nurses having oncology nursing certification. QCC also excelled at placing new patients in clinical research studies, with over half assigned to oncological clinical trials.

The center’s process for determining what stage of the disease its cancer patients have, which is instrumental to determining an effective treatment plan, also received commendation for its compliance with the College of American Pathologists protocol. A further commendation was given for reporting of outcomes for cancer treatment, including publishing outcomes in peer reviewed journals.

“Since my arrival at the Queens Cancer Center when it first opened in 2002, there were marked disparities in late stage disease, with Queens patients presenting in those late stages more when compared to the national average. It is rewarding to receive the Commission on Cancer’s full accreditation and highest award of gold, confirming that we are on the right track in our quest to reverse the borough’s disproportionately high rates of late stage cancer,” said Margaret Kemeny, MD, FACS, Director of the Queens Cancer Center.