OhioHealth has announced that OhioHealth Marion General Hospital has become certified through MD Anderson Cancer Network®, a program of MD Anderson Cancer Center, a world-renowned leader in cancer care. In addition to Marion General, OhioHealth Dublin Methodist Hospital, OhioHealth Doctors Hospital and OhioHealth Grady Memorial Hospital have also become certified members of the network.
Marion General physicians Jeanne Ashworth, MD, radiation oncologist; Arvinder Bhinder, MD, medical oncologist; John McDonough, MD, general surgeon; and Prasad Ravi, MD, general surgeon, have also recently been certified by the network.
“Certification at these hospitals will help advance cancer care in the communities that OhioHealth serves while still keeping that care local for patients and their families,” said Michael Bianchi, System Vice President, Cancer Services. “This certification creates a new standard of cancer care for the region.”
MD Anderson is one of the nation’s original three Comprehensive Cancer Centers, pioneering the National Cancer Institute guidelines that set the standard of cancer care today. Since U.S. News & World Report began its annual “Best Hospitals” survey in 1990, The University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center has been named one of the top two in cancer care — and No. 1 for 11 of the past 14 years.
Now, four more OhioHealth hospitals will have access to MD Anderson’s evidence-based guidelines.
Two OhioHealth hospitals – OhioHealth Riverside Methodist Hospital and OhioHealth Grant Medical Center – became certified members last fall. Since that time more than 50 affiliated physicians are now officially certified members of MD Anderson Cancer Network. When MD Anderson Cancer Network certification is fully complete, eight OhioHealth hospitals and more than 75 OhioHealth medical oncologists, radiation oncologists and surgical oncologists will be certified members of MD Anderson Cancer Network.
Certification for hospitals and for individual physicians is a rigorous process, not a rubber stamp. Physicians who go through the process provide MD Anderson Cancer Network with patient records and charts, which are then reviewed for quality of care and alignment with MD Anderson and national guidelines and standards.
“As additional hospitals are certified there is new hope for cancer patients,” said Bianchi. “As certified members, our physicians will now be tied together through clinical protocols and treatment plans, as well as tumor boards and cancer committees. This relationship with MD Anderson Cancer Network serves as not only a validation of the exceptional care that we’re currently providing, but gives us that added edge and resource should a patient have an especially complex cancer. In those cases, we’ll be able to leverage our relationship with our Houston colleagues to ensure those patients are receiving optimal care.”
As members of MD Anderson Cancer Network, these hospitals are now part of a best practices and quality improvement program. The program offers certified OhioHealth hospitals and their associated cancer specialists access to MD Anderson guidelines for treatment planning and improving the quality of cancer care provided.
“There’s no doubt MD Anderson is known, worldwide, for its cancer care. Likewise, OhioHealth has a strong reputation for treating cancer with a high-touch, patient-centered approach,” said Bruce Hagen, President, Marion General Hospital. “We’re thrilled about this relationship and how it’s moved forward to provide this care right here in Marion. It’s a very exciting time for our community and our cancer patients, and this is really what it’s all about – the patient.”
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