The Joint Commission was established as a non-profit organisation in the United States in 1951 as the Joint Commission on Accreditation of Hospitals Organization (JCAHO) and in 1953 published its first standard for the accreditation of hospitals. 

Today, Joint Commission accreditation is a prerequisite for all American healthcare facilities that want to access the public medical insurance systems. The experience of Accreditation for Excellence developed in the United States focuses primarily on a system that seeks to attribute value judgments on the health facilities based on the quality and safety of patient care.

Each Healthcare facility is evaluated by 5 international auditors. During the 5 days (Monday to Friday), the auditors assess the requirements described in the International Joint Commission Manual, detailing 350 standards. Each standard describes one or more requirements (measurable elements) that must be satisfied, with an overall total of 1,250 requirements divided among 14 chapters plus the International Patient Safety Goal (internationally recognised safety requirements).

Compliance with these standards has enabled IEO, together with a few other Italian hospitals, to have high value international quality standards recognised worldwide.

IEO has been a JCI-accredited healthcare facility from December 2002. Every three years since then, IEO has passed the strict Joint Commission International auditing visits.

Accreditation was confirmed on 20 January 2006, 29 April 2009 and for the fourth time on 10 March 2012. At the last survey, the final report gave the following praise:

"Italian citizens should be proud that the European Institute of Oncology is focusing on this most challenging goal - to continuously raise quality to higher levels."

This authoritative accreditation of excellence expresses a precise and independent evaluation on how a healthcare facility can make competence, quality and safety in care available to patients.

OECI aims to promote and strengthen Comprehensive Cancer Centres in Europe in order to reduce the incidence and mortality of cancer and to offer support to patients suffering from this disease. The ambitious mission is to unite all the cancer research and treatment centres in Europe by creating shared competences on the methodology of excellence in oncology, with the aim of improving the quality of life of cancer patients and to beat cancer through reliable and practical solutions.

OECI includes more than 70 institutions and is an influential, continuously growing European network, now joined by IEO. In fact, IEO has joined the Accreditation and Designation programme. This decision, involving all other Italian IRCCS cancer centres (11 in total) in addition to IEO, seeks to embark on a path of continuous improvement with the aim of homogenising the support to cancer patients according to standards and quality levels shared at European level.

The main focuses of OECI are:

• the creation of a critical mass of facilities, researchers and clinical knowledge through which to coordinate and harmonise oncology research, to create and maintain a consensus on the best models;
• the generation on a collaborative basis of models, scientific evidence and clinical solutions to be transferred as quickly as possible through the channels of scientific communication to the international community and to the benefit of individual countries through the participating centres;
• coordination and harmonisation of the research activities;
• fulfilment of training and information.

Following the survey on 2-3 December, OECI issued the Certificate of Designation as a Comprehensive Cancer Centre, or the Italian designation as cancer IRCCS [Research Hospital], with particular characteristics such as translational research, the capacity for and tendency to innovate, multiple disciplines, continual improvement of care and operating performance and the generation of diagnostic-therapeutic guidelines and courses.

Following IEO accreditation according to the standards of the Joint Commission International, the Unit of Laboratory Medicine and the Laboratory of Haemato-Oncology first obtained the certification of their quality management system according to ISO 9001:2000 requirements in March 2003.

In 2005, the IEO has developed the Quality Management System according to ISO 9001: 2000 requirements leading to certification of the following processes:

• Pharmacy
• Haemato-Oncology
• Quality and Accreditation Service

 Since March 2006 the certification has been extended (Certificate no. 6147) to the following processes:

• Research, development and delivery of health services to Haemato-Oncology in-patients
• Service delivery of laboratory medicine
• Service delivery of Anatomic Pathology
• Service Delivery of Laboratory Medicine in Haemato-Oncology
• Provision of Hospital Pharmacy services
• Experimental and clinical activities on Haemato-Oncology and Centre for Stem Cells Harvesting
• Tumour Registry
• Sterilisation Service
• Waste Management
• Radiation protection
• Nuclear Medicine
• Management of Quality and Accreditation Services

 The certification according to ISO 9001 requirements has allowed IEO to:

• Optimise quality management processes (e.g. Audit, transversal procedures, etc.);
• Broaden the vision of the processes involving and integrating departments with different skills, enhancing the overall vision in patient management, optimising time and resources;
• Define common objectives with the rationalisation of the resources involved and with the participation of all the staff personnel;
• Activate actions for improvement by involving the interdisciplinary departments involved in the processes for the improvement of quality of care (e.g. working groups for corrective actions);
• Speak a common language when dealing with problems, especially when they involve more than one unit;
• Provide an established method from years of experience that can be taken as an example by others;
• Provide support through a plan of internal audits (about 40 visits per year) to monitor that the standards of the Joint Commission International are satisfied.

 Every year, other processes voluntarily apply for ISO 9001:2008 Certification - both in clinical and organisational fields, as well as in the scientific field; this allows us to have the most relevant processes in control and with a good reliability assessed by an authoritative international external body.

ONDa [National Collective Study of Women’s Health] has the aim of stimulating research into the major diseases that affect women, and their implications for economic, political and social issues, contributing to the diffusion of medical and scientific information and promoting the culture of the social role of women in the enhancement of research and scientific knowledge.

The ONDa collective study is responsible for:

• Research through the support of basic and clinical studies of the major diseases that affect women;
• Providing protection through evaluating social and economic impacts as well as the legal and insurance implications of the more common diseases;
• Informing by calling on the attention of the Institutions, the world of medicine, companies, patient associations and the female population in general;
• Educating through promoting the teaching of the problems related to women's health in schools and universities;
• Stimulating through encouraging women to play an active role for their own health in all areas, from the world of work, to the creation of ad hoc health policies.

For years ONDa has been active on the chronic pain front, which is an issue of great clinical and epidemiological importance for the female population, and is also engaged in various activities aimed at improving treatment appropriateness and access to care on the territory.

IEO, a member of the Bollini Rosa [Pink Mark] Network and decided to join the  ONDa Cardiopain initiative, which involves the inclusion of an explicit warning about the use of non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs and COX-2 selective inhibitors in cardiac patients in hospital discharge letters.

This initiative, which aims to implement effectively the guidelines on prescribing NSAIDs and COX-2 selective inhibitors as contained in the AIFA [Italian Medicines Agency] memo no. 66, has been endorsed by the AIFA itself.

As part of the Cardiopain project, ONDa is promoting a campaign for raising awareness of GPs on the proper treatment of chronic benign pain in the heart disease patient for the due resumption of the appropriate therapy. The latter, in addition to ensuring adequate quality of life to the patient, is a fundamental goal of public health and is a valuable tool for the rationalisation of pharmaceutical expenditure.

IEO is commended as a center of excellence in providing treatment for international patients.    

The European Institute of Oncology was ‘Highly Commended’ as an International Patient Centre in 2015!

This award, bestowed on IEO at the recent International Medical Travel Journal, (IMTJ, www.imtj.com) annual awards ceremony, is a recognition of the excellent results in the management of international patients at IEO.

The high profile awards ceremony brought together the most eminent providers and experts in the medical travel and medical tourism sectors.

This official endorsement will help to establish IEO as a patient-focused international referral center offering tailored services for all oncological patients.

We understand, that seeking treatment in a foreign country is a difficult step so IEO will do everything, to facilitate this experience.

Whenever possible, we will work with your overseas doctors to provide efficient and effective care.

For the fourth consecutive year, IEO has achieved the prestigious Top Employers Italy certification, awarded to the best Italian companies, distinguished by their policies of human resource enhancement and management.

The Top Employers Institute is an independent organisation that has examined and analysed the working conditions and job offers of thousands of companies worldwide for more than two decades, certifying them according to recognised international standards. Only the best companies in the world get the Top Employers Certification.

For more information on the Top Employers Certification and access our company Top Employers profile, please visit www.top-employers.com. 

The Designated Centres of Integrated Oncology and Palliative Care programme of the European Society for Medical Oncology (ESMO) was born in 2003 as a special recognition of international oncology centres where high standards of integration between Medical Oncology and Palliative Care have been achieved.

The main objectives of this programme are:

• Promoting the integration of Palliative Care in the context of well-established cancer therapies;
• Encouraging education in the field of Palliative Care for medical oncologists and other health professionals involved in oncology;
• Spreading the cooperation between ESMO and other professional associations existing in different geographical areas, supporting the development of Palliative Care.

 The criteria for accreditation are based on 13 different areas concerning logistics, organisational and health aspects, with particular interest in the assessment of symptoms, continuity of care and communication.

The Hospital Benchmarking Award is an important recognition that is assigned to reward the 6 best hospitals in the world.

IEO, the only European structure among the six awarded, has been identified as the international "best practice" in the care and treatment of patients with cancer.

The centre of healthcare management of the University of Westfalia selected the best facilities on behalf of the Bertelsmann Foundation, via a thorough analysis on all aspects, ranging from patient care to analysis of the management processes.

IEO was awarded the Cambiare passo [Changing pace] prize as the best company in Milan for inclusion of people with disabilities.

Since its foundation, the European Institute of Oncology has combined its commitment to clinical activity and research with a strong sense of social responsibility and attention to the needs of the community.

These values translate into a constant attitude of respect for disadvantaged workers, whose difficulties sometimes go beyond the disability in the strict sense.

During the selection process, the various skills the individual possesses are always evaluated and targeted opportunities are sought to be offered for employment so that the skills possessed by each employee can be optimally deployed. Hiring a worker with disability should not be an obstacle or an obligation but an opportunity.