Northern Arizona Healthcare loses breast center accreditation
FLAGSTAFF — Northern Arizona Healthcare has lost its status as a nationally accredited breast center pending corrective action.
The National Association Program for Breast Centers notified the health care system on Dec. 1 that accreditation was revoked "due to four to eight deficiencies or non-compliance in a critical standard." The notification letter did not specify what these deficiencies were.
"We are confident in the care we provide through our Breast Care program, and we are planning to appeal the initial decision and thus cannot provide any additional information at this time," Northern Arizona Healthcare said in a statement.
The hospital must submit corrective action documents within the next twelve months to regain its accreditation. If they do not complete these steps in time, they will have to reapply for accreditation.
Patients receiving care at accredited breast health centers can generally expect access to state-of-the-art services, increased access to and participation in clinical trials and new treatments and improved mammography.
Northern Arizona Healthcare was the only accredited breast health program north of Phoenix.
With this ruling, Banner University Cancer Center in Tucson and City of Hope Cancer Center Phoenix, formally known as Cancer Treatment Centers of America, are the only two accredited breast centers listed in Arizona, according to the American College of Surgeons.
Reach the reporter at LLatch@gannett.com.
The Republic’s coverage of northern Arizona is funded, in part, with a grant from Report for America. To support regional Arizona news coverage like this, make a tax-deductible donation at supportjournalism.azcentral.com.
This article originally appeared on Arizona Republic: Northern Arizona Healthcare loses breast center accreditation
