PORTLAND — Maine Medical Center (MMC) has earned a three-year accreditation from the National Accreditation Program for Rectal Cancer (NAPRC), a quality program of the American College of Surgeons. It is one of two programs in New England and only 45 in the nation to achieve this recognition.

To achieve NAPRC accreditation, a treatment center must demonstrate compliance with the NAPRC standards addressing program management, clinical services and quality improvement for patients. Centers are required to establish a multidisciplinary rectal cancer team that includes clinical representatives from surgery, pathology, radiology, radiation oncology and medical oncology.

“The modern treatment of rectal cancer frequently combines radiation and chemotherapy with surgical treatment,” said M. Parker Roberts III, MD, a colorectal surgeon at MMC and director of the rectal cancer program. “Essential to this is the proper staging with imaging and pathology, as well as genetic counseling and support services. Clearly a multidisciplinary team must be involved. Kudos to the MaineHealth oncology service line, Maine Medical Partners, New England Cancer Specialists and Spectrum Medical Group, all of whom played crucial roles in gaining this accreditation.”

The MMC program also met standards addressing clinical services provided by the rectal cancer program, including magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) and computerized tomography (CT) imaging for cancer staging. The accreditation means that MMC has maintained strict quality monitoring of rectal cancer surgery, according to MMC, in a news release. Rectal cancer programs accredited by the NAPRC undergo a site visit every three years and are also accredited by the American College of Surgeons Commission on Cancer.

“This extraordinary accomplishment validates MMC’s commitment to charting a new path in rectal cancer care – one focused on excellence, innovation and achieving the best possible outcome for each patient,” said Evie Taylor MHA, BSN, RN, OCN, Senior Director of Quality for MMC and MaineHealth Cancer Care. “MaineHealth is dedicated to delivering the right care at the right time, as close to home as possible. Our multidisciplinary team approach ensures that rectal cancer patients receive appropriate care by trained and qualified healthcare providers and support staff. We are proud to receive this recognition and will continue to provide comprehensive rectal cancer services to the patients we serve in Maine and beyond.”

Accreditation by the NAPRC is granted only to those programs that are committed to providing the best possible care to patients with rectal cancer. The NAPRC provides the structure and resources to develop and operate a high-quality rectal center and accredited programs follow a model for organizing and managing a rectal center to ensure multidisciplinary, integrated and comprehensive rectal cancer services.

About Maine Medical Center

Maine Medical Center (MMC), recognized as a Best Regional Hospital by U.S. News and World Report for 2021-2022, is a complete health care resource for the people of Greater Portland and the entire state, as well as northern New England. Incorporated in 1868, MMC is the state’s largest medical center, licensed for 637 beds and employing more than 9,600 people. MMC's unique role as both a community hospital and a referral center requires an unparalleled depth and breadth of services, including an active educational program and a world-class biomedical research center. As a nonprofit institution, Maine Medical Center provides nearly 23 percent of all the charity care delivered in Maine. MMC is part of the MaineHealth system, a growing family of health care services in northern New England. For more information, visit www.mmc.org.

About the National Accreditation Program for Rectal Cancer

The NAPRC was developed through a collaboration between the Commission on Cancer (CoC), a quality program of the American College of Surgeons, and the Optimizing the Surgical Treatment of Rectal Cancer (OSTRiCh) Consortium, as well as the American College of Radiology (ACR), the American Society of Colon and Rectal Surgeons (ASCRS), and the College of American Pathologists (CAP). The NAPRC is based on successful international models that emphasize program structure, patient care processes, performance improvement and performance measures. Its goal is to ensure that rectal cancer patients receive appropriate care using a multidisciplinary approach. For more information visit https://www.facs.org/naprc.