UChicago Medicine re-certified for high-quality cancer care from largest oncology society in United States

The University of Chicago Medicine has received re-certification by the QOPI® Certification Program LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of the American Society of Clinical Oncology, Inc. (ASCO®). The QOPI® Certification Program (QCP) builds on ASCO’s Quality Oncology Practice Initiative (QOPI®), providing a three-year certification for outpatient hematology-oncology practices that meet nationally recognized standards for quality cancer care.

“We’re very proud of this re-certification from ASCO and the QCP, which provides external validation that we are providing the highest quality care for our patients both in Hyde Park and throughout the network,” said Blase N. Polite, MD, MPP, FASCO, associate professor of medicine, deputy section chief for clinical operations and executive medical director for cancer accountable care.

“By choosing to go through and then successfully completing ASCO’s QOPI® Certification process, a practice demonstrates its dedication to providing high-quality care to patients with cancer,” said ASCO President Monica M. Bertagnolli, MD, FACS, FASCO. “It is a concrete action a practice has taken to fully realize a commitment to quality, safety, and continual process improvement.”

To become QOPI® Certified, practices have to submit to an evaluation of their entire practice and documentation standards. The QOPI® Certification Program staff and task force members then verify through an on-site survey that the evaluation and documents are correct and that the practices met core standards in areas of treatment, including:

• Creating a safe environment — staffing, competencies, and general policy
• Treatment planning, patient consent, and education
• Ordering, preparing, dispensing, and administering chemotherapy
• Monitoring after chemotherapy is administered, including adherence, toxicity, and complications
• Treatment planning
• Staff training and education
• Chemotherapy orders and drug preparation
• Patient consent and education
• Safe chemotherapy administration
• Monitoring and assessment of patient well-being.

The QOPI® Certification Program was launched in January 2010, and nearly 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 the program was expanded internationally. The QOPI® Certification Program seal designates those practices that not only scored above the threshold on the key QOPI® quality measures, but met chemotherapy safety standards established by ASCO and the Oncology Nursing Society.

QOPI® and the QOPI® Certification Program are projects dedicated to innovative quality improvement programs.