Newswise — Children's Hospital & Research Center Oakland's Blood and Marrow Transplantation (BMT) program recently earned a renewal accreditation by the Foundation for the Accreditation of Cellular Therapy (FACT). FACT accreditation requires that programs meet the highest standards on the basis of rigorous on-site performance reviews. By demonstrating compliance with the FACT-JACIE International Standards for Cellular Therapy Product Collection, Processing and Administration and governmental regulations, the program was awarded this prestigious accreditation for another 3 years.
"FACT accreditation has evolved into a necessary qualification to be competitive in the field of cellular therapy," said Mark Walters, MD, director of Children's Hospital Oakland's BMT program. "We believe FACT accreditation will reassure our patients that our program provides the highest quality care in cellular therapies such as blood and marrow transplantation."
In addition to FACT accreditation, the California Department of Health and Human Services has designated Children's Hospital Oakland's BMT program a center of excellence for pediatric stem cell transplantation. Since its inception in 2000, the BMT program, a world-class program with expertise in all areas of hematopoietic cell transplantation, has performed 145 transplant procedures.
"We are pleased that Children's Hospital Oakland has met the requirements of the Foundation and has been granted accreditation for the BMT program," said Dr. Phyllis Warkentin, FACT Medical Director.
FACT conducted an on-site evaluation of Children's Hospital Oakland in November 2008. The accreditation process involved the submission of documentation to demonstrate compliance with the standards and a subsequent on-site inspection conducted by inspectors qualified by training and experience in cellular therapy.
About Children's Hospital & Research Center OaklandChildren's Hospital & Research Center Oakland is Northern California's only freestanding and independent children's hospital. Children's is the leader in many pediatric specialties including neonatology, cardiology, neurosurgery and intensive care. The hospital is a designated Level 1 pediatric trauma center and has the largest pediatric critical care facility in the region. Children's Hospital has 190 licensed beds, 201 hospital-based physicians in 30 specialties, more than 2,611 employees and an operating budget of $312 million. Children's research arm, Children's Hospital Oakland Research Institute, has about 300 staff members and an annual budget of more than $49 million. Primary research funding comes from the National Institutes of Health. The institute is a leader in translational blood diseases, developing new vaccines for infectious diseases and discovering new treatment protocols for previously fatal or debilitating conditions such as cancers, sickle cell disease and thalassemia, diabetes, asthma, HIV/AIDS, pediatric obesity, nutritional deficiencies, birth defects, hemophilia and cystic fibrosis.
About FACTIn December 1994, the International Society for Cellular Therapy (ISCT) and the American Society for Blood and Marrow Transplantation (ASBMT) merged their Standards into a single document covering all aspects of hematopoietic cell therapy (collection, processing, and transplantation). The two societies established FACT in order to develop a voluntary Inspection and Accreditation Program based on the joint Standards. FACT promotes quality medical and laboratory practice of cellular therapy through its peer-developed standards and voluntary inspection and accreditation program.
In 2006, FACT, in collaboration with the Joint Accreditation Committee"ISCT & EBMT (JACIE), developed international standards in the field of cellular therapy. JACIE was founded by the European Group for Blood and Marrow Transplantation (EBMT) and the International Society for Cellular Therapy (ISCT), the two leading scientific organizations involved with cellular transplantation in Europe.
The FACT Inspection and Accreditation Program was developed by Dr. Phyllis Warkentin, FACT Medical Director, the FACT Directors and Officers, as well as the ISCT and ASBMT Regulatory and Standards Committees. The first edition of the FACT Standards was published in September 1996, and the first inspections began in September of 1997 with the first programs awarded accreditation in 1998.
RSS