VICC tabbed as cancer center of excellence
United Resource Networks, a subsidiary of United HealthCare, has designated the Vanderbilt-Ingram Cancer Center as a Center of Excellence in its Cancer Resource Services (CRS) for its expertise in the surgical treatment of a number of complex cancers.
CRS identifies the leading cancer centers in the nation, with a special emphasis on complex cancers such as head and neck cancers, brain tumors, cancers of the esophagus, pancreas and liver, sarcomas, lymphomas and leukemias and childhood cancers.
These Centers of Excellence have a number of features in common, including offering “best-practice” cancer care through a multi-disciplinary team approach, high patient and surgical volumes, exceptional clinical research, and patient- and family-oriented programs and services.
Such a constellation of features, according to the United Resource Networks (URN) Web site, results in more consistently accurate diagnoses; planned, coordinated and appropriate treatment provided by a team of experts who specialize in the patient's specific cancer and who regularly work together; fewer complications; higher survival rates; and decreased costs.
URN is a company of United HealthCare, which includes some 3.8 million members in the Southeast, representing more than 8,000 new cancer cases, of which about 2,800 are defined as complex cases.
Vanderbilt's agreement with CRS covers stereotactic radiosurgery as well as surgical treatment of tumors of the brain, liver, lung, pancreas, rectum and esophagus.
“We are very pleased to be designated a Cancer Resource Services Center of Excellence,” said R. Daniel Beauchamp, M.D., John C. Foshee Distinguished Professor of Surgery, chair of the Section of Surgical Sciences, and associate director for clinical programs for the Vanderbilt-Ingram Cancer Center.
“As the only National Cancer Institute-designated Comprehensive Cancer Center in Tennessee and one of only a select few in the Southeast, we have an obligation to make sure that as many patients as possible have access to our services if they need us.
“We are excited that this partnership will help us achieve that goal,” Beauchamp said.