The Blood and Marrow Stem Cell Transplantation Program at the John Theurer Cancer Center at Hackensack University Medical Center received Disease Specific Care Certification for stem cell transplantation from The Joint Commission, the nation's leading accrediting agency for hospitals and healthcare organizations. The Blood and Marrow Transplantation Program also recently became the first and only such program in New Jersey to be named a Blue Distinction® Center for Specialty Care by the nationwide Blue Cross and Blue Shield companies.

Both of these prestigious honors attest to the high quality of the program's clinical services, the expertise of its faculty and staff, stringent quality indicators that are maintained, innovative research studies that are under way, and a rigorous quest for continuous improvement. The John Theurer Cancer Center's Blood and Marrow Stem Cell Transplantation Program is one of the 10 largest in the United States. Each year, almost 300 adults and children with cancer and serious blood disorders from throughout the country come go there to undergo a life-saving stem cell transplant at the program. Last year, the program reported outcomes success rates of more than 95 percent for the procedure.

"These designations are more than a plaque on the wall," says Andrew L. Pecora, M.D., chairman and executive administrative director of the John Theurer Cancer Center at Hackensack University Medical Center. "They attest to the high level of expertise offered by our Blood and Marrow Stem Cell Transplantation Program's chief, Dr. Scott Rowley, by his associate, Dr. Michele Donato, and by the entire transplantation team."

"Our mission is to provide extraordinary care to all our patients. The Joint Commission and Blue Cross and Blue Shield, after rigorous review, have said that our patients are receiving the most advanced, comprehensive stem cell transplantation services and cancer care available in our nation today."

The Joint Commission seeks to continuously improve the safety and quality of care provided to the public through the accreditation of hospitals and other healthcare organizations and through related services. The Joint Commission also provides certification of disease-specific care programs, such as the one achieved by the Blood and Marrow Stem Cell Transplantation Program.

The John Theurer Cancer Center's Blood and Marrow Stem Cell Transplantation Program was granted Disease Specific Certification after a rigorous on-site, unannounced, day-long evaluation on August 29 that assessed clinical practices, policies and procedures, and performance measurement requirements. A reviewer from The Joint Commission met with Dr. Rowley and other administrators, interviewed staff members individually, reviewed patient charts, and then interviewed patients in the Blood and Marrow Stem Cell Transplantation Program's outpatient and inpatient units. The reviewer visited all areas involved in the program, including the adult outpatient and inpatient units, the pediatric inpatient unit and pediatric clinic, the ambulatory surgical center, and the emergency department. Four specific program measures were monitored, including discharge criteria, survival at 100 days, acute graft-versus-host disease documentation, and donor follow-up. The reviewer evaluated the program's adherence to the clinical standards of the Foundation for the Accreditation of Cellular Therapy.

"At the John Theurer Cancer Center, our basic, translational, and clinical research studies provide the foundation for the clinical care we provide today and for the future of cancer care all over the world," says Dr. Rowley.

The Blue Distinction® Center for Specialty Care designation is awarded by the Blue Cross and Blue Shield companies to medical facilities that have demonstrated experience in delivering quality healthcare. The John Theurer Cancer Center's Blood and Marrow Stem Cell Transplantation Program is one of 70 Blue Distinction® Centers for Transplants nationwide, but the only one in New Jersey. The designation is based on rigorous, evidence-based selection criteria established in collaboration with leading medical specialists and societies, including the Center for International Blood and Marrow Transplant Research and the Foundation for the Accreditation of Cellular Therapy. The goal of Blue Distinction® is "to help consumers find quality specialty care on a consistent basis, while enabling and encouraging health professionals to improve the overall quality and delivery of healthcare nationwide."

In achieving the Blue Distinction® Center designation, the Blood and Marrow Stem Cell Transplantation Program was evaluated for a number of requirements, including volume of cases, survival, a stable team of transplantation experts and subspecialists, the facility, data management, patient management plans, post-operative phase, patient education, policies and procedures, quality management, and patient satisfaction review process.

The John Theurer Cancer Center's Blood and Marrow Stem Cell Transplantation Program is the only one in New Jersey that is approved by the National Marrow Donor Program to perform all types of transplants: autologous (using the patient's own stem cells), allogeneic (using a donor's stem cells), and umbilical cord (using stem cells collected from umbilical cords). Many of the advances in stem cell transplantation techniques used today were developed here, including "mini" transplants for elderly and very sick patients, ways to purge marrow of cancerous cells, ways to expand the quantity of cells for transplantation, and improvements in curbing the immune response of a recipient to donated stem cells in order to prevent the incidence of graft-versus-host disease. There are currently more than 50 clinical trials under way at the program as well as basic and translational research studies that are studying the immunology of graft-versus-host disease.

The John Theurer Cancer Center provides extraordinary cancer care by offering multidisciplinary care, personalized treatment, innovative research, superior outcomes, and patient satisfaction within 14 disease-specific, treatment, or research divisions. For more information about The Cancer Center, call 201-996-5900 or visit www.humc.com.