Centra Southside Oncology Clinic in affiliation with Pearson Cancer Center Hematology/Oncology Clinic 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 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 our re-certification from ASCO and QCP which shows our commitment to providing high-quality care for our community,” said MSN, RN, CEN, NE-BC, Centra Cancer Center Director of Hematology/Oncology Kathi Manis.

The Cancer Center Hematology/Oncology Clinics first achieved certification in 2010. In applying for re-certification, Centra Southside Oncology Clinic participated in a voluntary comprehensive site assessment against clearly specified standards that are consistent with national guidelines and was successful in meeting the standards and objectives of the QOPI® Certification Program. Jennifer Dunnavant, BSN, RN, OCN, manager of the Centra Southside Hematology/Oncology clinic remarked that the team consistently practices high quality patient care. Having obtained the certification is a tribute to the excellent care delivered in our community.

“ASCO’s QOPI® Certification is voluntary, so a practice that undertakes this process is demonstrating its commitment to providing patients with high quality care,” said ASCO President Howard A. “Skip” Burris III, M.D., FACP, FASCO. “A practice that achieves certification has evaluated its processes, benchmarked its performance against other top-performing practices, and can be confident in its dedication to quality and safety excellence, as well as continues quality improvement.”

QOPI® is a voluntary self-assessment and improvement program launched by ASCO in 2006 to help hematology-oncology and medical oncology practices assess the quality of the care they provide to patients. Through QOPI®, practices abstract data from patients’ records up to twice per year and enter this information into a secure database. More than 750 oncology practices have registered for QOPI®.

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® analyzes individual practice data and compares these to more than 170 evidence-based and consensus quality measures. The information is then provided in reports to participating practices. Individual practices also are able to compare their performance to data from other practices across the country. Based on this feedback, doctors and practices can identify areas for 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; and monitoring and assessment of patient well-being.

QOPI® and the QOPI® Certification Program are projects dedicated to innovative quality improvement programs. For more information, please visit: https://practice.asco.org/quality-improvement/quality-programs.