FACT accreditation team gives Alliance high marks in recent review

Thursday, February 7, 2002

Vol 8, Issue 3

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Photo by Theresa Naujack

(From left) Norm Hubbard, chief operating officer; Rachel Jolly, operations manager; and Dr. Marc Stewart, medical director, crouch behind a cake designed in the shape of the Seattle Cancer Care Alliance clinic building during a Jan. 29 party to celebrate the Alliance's one-year anniversary.

The Seattle Cancer Care Alliance clinic emerged at the end of a Jan. 30 inspection by the Foundation for the Accreditation of Cellular Therapy (FACT) with high marks.

The interim inspection by three surveyors and a trainee focused on cell collection (apheresis), cell processing (cellular therapy, formerly cryobiology) and clinical components, including a review of charts, assessment and care of stem-cell donors and the Alliance's quality process.

"In the exit conference, we got rave reviews," said Lois Helbert, assistant director of Quality/Utilization Review. "They were impressed with what we had accomplished in a year and felt there were no major deficiencies."

The Nebraska-based foundation, known as FACT, already had given the Hutchinson Center transplant program a three-year accreditation in September 2000.

"When they heard that we had picked up and moved our site of practice and that we became the Alliance, they wanted to come back and inspect us, to make sure we hadn't broken anything," Helbert said.

Formal notification of results of the Jan. 30 inspection is expected in three to six months, she said.

Dr. Marc Stewart, Alliance medical director, congratulated staff in an e-mail message: "Without a doubt, our success is due to the dedication, hard work and innovation of the many teams in the transplant program and the Alliance."

The FACT inspection follows an "A" grade given the Alliance last October by the Joint Committee on Accreditation of Health Care Organizations. The Alliance clinic opened a year ago.

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