Rhode Island makes STAR Program Certifications the statewide standard for cancer care
The state of Rhode Island, in collaboration with Oncology Rehab Partners (ORP) and Gloria Gemma Breast Cancer Resource Foundation, is mounting the country’s first statewide initiative to make cancer rehabilitation the standard of care for its survivors, by bringing ORP’s STAR (Survivorship Training and Rehabilitation) Program Certifications to its American College of Surgeons’ (ACS) Commission on Cancer (CoC)-accredited hospitals and several independent rehab facilities throughout RI. Just as New York led the way nationwide in recognizing the value of cardiac rehab almost a century ago, the tiny state of Rhode Island is now proving itself to be at the forefront of a critical movement in healthcare.
This past February, the CoC revised its Cancer Program Standards (CPS) to require each of its 1,500 accredited hospitals to offer a follow-up “care plan” to every survivor. ORP’s STAR Program Certification is the only program in the country that provides a way for healthcare facilities to establish, or expand, their own oncology rehabilitation programs quickly and effectively, using a best practices model. STAR Program Certification can be executed within three to six months – a fraction of the time that would normally be required for a medical practice to conduct its own research and development.
