NAPRC Draft Standards and Public Comment Period Now Open

The National Accreditation Program for Rectal Cancer (NAPRC) is requesting feedback on the first draft version of the NAPRC revised accreditation standards.

In 2023, the NAPRC began a project to analyze and revise its accreditation standards. This phase of the Standards Revision Project focuses on two primary topics:

• Watch and Wait: Nonoperative management of patients with rectal cancer at the NAPRC-accredited program.
• Local Excision: The management of patients with rectal cancer at the NAPRC-accredited program using local excision techniques, such as transanal excision (TAE).

On February 15, the draft standards were posted on the NAPRC website along with a survey to facilitate feedback. The public comment period will be open for approximately four weeks, closing on Sunday, March 17.

The NAPRC website includes additional information on logistics for how to submit feedback. The information received during the public comment period will be used to further refine the standards requirements and compliance measures in the revised standards. Public comment feedback will also be taken into consideration for the implementation timeline, which will be released once the revised standards have been finalized.

Questions on the logistics of the public comment period may be submitted to NAPRC@facs.org. All questions on the substance of the revised standards are to be submitted through the feedback survey.