Hospitals
Of the nearly 400 hospitals in Texas, 70 have comprehensive cancer care programs approved by the American College of Surgeons (ACoS) Commission on Cancer. In addition, 26 other hospitals have all the components needed for ACoS approval. Those components include a cancer committee, a cancer registry, cancer conferences, and patient evaluation.The categorization of hospitals by cancer services is not intended to reflect the quality of general, acute medical, or surgical care but rather one of hospital specialization, interest, and commitment to the special needs of cancer patients. It would not be economically feasible for all hospitals to have the full range of expensive services. The emphasis on the larger hospitals should not in any way diminish the key role of the smaller acute/general care hospitals as the entry point into the cancer care system and as a part of the mechanism to provide continuity of care at the community level.
As can be seen from the following map, locations of hospitals with ACoS approved cancer programs and those with ACoS components tend to be located in the urban areas across the state. The majority of the hospitals are located in the more heavily populated eastern and northeastern sections of the state.
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