ALEXANDRIA, Va. — Today, the American Society of Clinical Oncology, Inc. (ASCO®) announced that Instituto de Oncologia do Vale (IOV) has become the first practice in Brazil to receive Quality Oncology Practice Initiative (QOPI®) certification through QOPI Certification Program, LLC (QCP). IOV is the second international practice to achieve this milestone in demonstrating the quality of care it provides to oncology patients.

“QOPI Certification™ is a commitment to delivering high-quality oncology care put into practice,” said Carolyn Hendricks, MD, QOPI Certification Program (QCP) Oversight Council Chair. “By investing the time and practice resources, practices that earn the QCP seal make a public statement that they have met lofty standards aimed at providing high-quality care to their patients.”

Instituto de Oncologia do Vale (IOV), located in R. Major Antônio Domingues in São José dos Campos, São Paulo, achieved this three-year certification in early February after completing the certification program for outpatient hematology-oncology practices that meet nationally recognized standards for quality cancer care. IOV has six facilities and is part of a national oncology group named “Oncologia D’Or” with other 33 facilities in six states. In 2017, IOV Taubaté unit and two other Oncologia D’Or facilities will work toward achieving certification in a staged manner. 

“QOPI Certification™ is probably one of the greatest accomplishments our practice has ever achieved,” said Carlos Frederico Pinto, MD, MBA, Executive Director of IOV. “Our practice has been working with quality initiatives and quality certification since 2006. What we have observed is that QOPI starts where the others just end, in a deeper view of how care is delivered to our patients.” 

QOPI, which ASCO established more than 10 years ago, is a voluntary self-assessment and improvement program to assist hematology-oncology and medical oncology practices in assessing the quality of the care they provide to patients. Through the QOPI program, practices abstract data from patients’ medical records up to twice per year and enter this information into a secure database. At present, more than 900 oncology practices have registered for the QOPI program.

The QOPI Certification Program, which began in 2010, offers specialty certification to outpatient oncology practices demonstrating commitment to quality. Each practice completes a comprehensive, voluntary assessment of its site against specified standards that are consistent with national guidelines. Those practices that earn the QOPI Certification™ designation have scored well on key QOPI® quality measures and have met chemotherapy safety standards established by ASCO and the Oncology Nursing Society in areas of treatment that include:

• Treatment planning
• Staff training and education
• Chemotherapy orders and drug preparation
• Patient consent and education
• Safe chemotherapy administration
• Monitoring and assessment of patient well-being.

Currently, more than 300 practices have achieved QOPI Certification™.

“Achieving QOPI Certification™ is an in-depth and time-intensive process and really exemplifies a practice’s commitment to delivering high-quality care to patients with cancer,” said Mohammad Jahanzeb, MD, Chair of the QOPI Task Force. “We congratulate IOV on this achievement and encourage other oncology practices in Brazil and around the world to follow its lead and apply for QOPI Certification.”

In June 2016, ASCO announced that the Contemporary Oncology Team of Athens, Greece, had become the first international practice to receive QOPI Certification™.

QOPI and the QOPI Certification Program are projects dedicated to innovative quality improvement programs. For more information, please visit: http://www.instituteforquality.org/qopi-qcp.