Goals, Gratitude, and Annual Reporting

Each year in January, the ACS Cancer Programs release new accreditation standards, quality improvement projects, data staging standards, and more, all following a January-to-December Gregorian calendar, just like we all use to track our taxes. It is perhaps less well known that the ACS Cancer Programs internally follow a July to June academic calendar; this makes sense when you realize that the ACS plays a large role in supporting and promoting academic surgery, i.e., the education of surgeons and the advancement of surgical practices through research.

This year has been no different: We are wrapping up a report on the accomplishment of last year’s goals and preparing to release goals for the coming year. Thanks to the hard work of the ACS Cancer Programs staff and the ongoing dedication of the many professionals who serve the 32 committees of the ACS Cancer Programs, we have achieved many important goals for 2022-2023. Thank you all!

At the highest level, the Cancer Programs accomplished the following:

• Formalized the Cancer National Quality Improvement Collaborative populated committees with subject matter and methodologic experts, provided education and training for diverse stakeholders, reported on completed projects, and supported new projects
• Increased outreach including approved and piloted novel data-first accreditation process for rural hospitals
• Expanded digital services and reported the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on the National Cancer Database (NCDB) 2020 cohort of cancer patients
• Strengthened integration across programs and harmonized approaches to membership and leadership transitions focused on diversity, equity, and inclusiveness
• And lastly, increased collaborative work and product integration across programs

This is just a small snapshot of our many achievements, all deserving of attention, so we hope to provide more formalized Annual Reports in the future.