The Commission on Cancer
Mission and History
 The CoC is a consortium of professional organizations dedicated to reducing the morbidity and mortality of cancer through education, standard-setting, and the monitoring of quality care.

Established by the American College of Surgeons (ACoS) in 1922, the multi-disciplinary Commission on Cancer (CoC) sets standards for quality multidisciplinary cancer care delivered primarily in hospital settings; surveys hospitals to assess compliance with those standards; collects standardized and quality data from approved hospitals to measure treatment patterns and outcomes; and uses the data to evaluate hospital provider performance and develop effective educational interventions to improve cancer care outcomes at the national and local level.

Membership
 Multidisciplinary Commission membership is comprised of more than 100 individuals who are either surgeons representing the ACoS or representatives from the 39 national, professional organizations affiliated with the CoC. These individuals each participate in one of the standing committees or in one of the thirteen Disease Site Teams that work to pursue the Commission's goals by:

  • Establishing standards for 1,435 Commission-accredited cancer programs and evaluating and accrediting programs according to those standards.
  • Overseeing a nationwide network of more than 1,500 physician-volunteers who provide state and local support for Commission and American Cancer Society cancer control initiatives.
  • Providing oversight and coordination for educational programs of the Commission which are geared towards surgeons, physicians, cancer registrars, cancer program leadership, and others.
  • Providing clinical oversight and expertise for Commission standard-setting activities and for the development, review, and dissemination of patient care guidelines.
  • Overseeing and coordinating national site-specific studies of patterns of care and outcomes of patient management through the annual collection, analysis, and dissemination of data for all cancer sites.


CoC Celebrates Outstanding State Chair Performance November 2006
 Three state chairs, including Danny M. Takanishi, Jr., MD, FACS, were honored for their outstanding performance in 2005 and 2006 during the recent CoC meetings. Nominees were required to meet approved criteria and were selected based on data provided through the State Chair Activity Reports and collected by CoC staff over the last calendar year. [More]

COC Meeting 10/10/04 Hawaii State Chair Report
Submitted to the Hawaii Chapter membership, by Mathew Chung, MD, FACS
State Chairman of the Cancer Liaison Program


Commission on Cancer, Cancer Liaison Physician Program
These FACS web pages provide full detail on the Commission on Cancer mission.