ASHEBORO — The Randolph Cancer Center has been awarded the Hematology & Oncology Practice Excellence (HOPE) Award for Expense Control by Hematology & Oncology News & Issues magazine.

This award signifies Randolph Cancer Center as a leader, both administratively and clinically, among the cancer center practices of its size in the country.

The HOPE Awards recognize and advance excellence, and help practices gauge its success. In cooperation with corporate partners and sponsors, the awards are a part of a three-year initiative designed to encourage the development of practice standards of excellence in community-based cancer treatment centers.

The three main goals of the initiative are to identify measurable business standards, quantify a set of criteria within each standard that can be applied across practices and recognize the practices that exhibit excellence among its peers.

Randolph Cancer Center received this award for its focus on Electronic Medical Records (EMR) implementation, workflow analysis and staff accountability. Adoption of EMR and moving toward a paperless system has been common among HOPE award winning facilities.

EMR calculates the medicine dosage, length of time given and provides alerts for medical conflicts. While chemo volumes increased by 36 percent during the first three months of operation at Randolph Cancer Center, EMR had a large impact on decreasing nurse charting time.

Volume increases also led to the need for a workflow analysis, or the process by which patients were scheduled. After examining the EMR system, they determined most patients could bypass check out.

“Our new process eliminated patient wait time, which increased patient satisfaction and allowed us to maintain one staff position for scheduling,” said Stacey Bannister, executive director of Randolph Cancer Center. “This year we decided to hold each person on the team accountable for finding at least one cost saving idea. We didn’t focus on the amount of savings but rather getting 100 percent to participate in seeking ways to reduce expenses.”

Randolph Cancer Center began providing services in 1999 and since that time it has seen tremendous growth. In October 2008, Randolph Cancer Center moved to its new 21,000-square-foot state-of-the-art facility providing chemotherapy, radiation therapy and therapeutic support services to the Randolph County area.

Randolph Cancer Center is an accredited community cancer center providing expert care in a supportive, nurturing environment.

The practice’s cancer services are designed to meet patient’s specific needs – be they testing or treatment.

The team of medical specialist at the cancer center work closely together in coordinating patient care with the goal of returning patients to complete health.

Almost all forms of cancer can be treated through the practice’s comprehensive outpatient services. Its staff includes board-certified surgeons, gynecologist, pathologies and medical oncologists, as well as nurses and support therapists with specialized training in oncology.

The center is equipped with an onsite laboratory and pharmacy so that patients can be treated more efficiently and so that test results are received in a timely manner.

“We’ve envisioned the opening of this facility for a long time, and we’re thrilled it is open to serve our patients,” Bannister said. “With this new facility, we have a fully integrated medical campus that includes inpatient, outpatient and cancer care in one location. As a result, we are better able to meet the needs of our patients and to achieve the Randolph Hospital model of care that was established more than 76 years ago.”

Randolph Cancer Center is a joint venture between Randolph Hospital and Moses Cone Health System and provides comprehensive cancer care to Randolph County. Benefits of this collaboration include expert cancer care and participation in National Cancer Institute approved research trials close to home.

It also offers streamlined access to other cancer-related services of Moses Cone Health System Regional Cancer Center.

To learn more about Randolph Cancer Center or its services, visit www.randolphcancercenter.org or call (336) 626-0033.