Once again, The Jewish Hospital is only the second hospital in the nation to earn the Joint Commission’s Gold Seal of Approval and certification for its leukemia care program. The recertification follows an onsite review that affirmed the hospital’s commitment to provide patients with high quality care. 

“Receiving a leukemia diagnosis is frightening but patients and their families can take some comfort from knowing that the Blood Cancer Center at The Jewish Hospital is home to the most advanced, experienced and high performing adult blood and bone marrow transplant program in the Tri-State,” said Pat Davis-Hagens, President of The Jewish Hospital. “I commend our associates, as well as OHC’s Dr. James Essell, medical director of the Blood Cancer Center, and OHC, our valued partners in blood cancer care, on achieving recertification and outcomes that compare with those of MD Anderson and Duke University.”

“The Blood Cancer Center’s reputation for providing great quality care is well-deserved and the reason why it treats more patients with acute leukemia than anywhere else in the Tri-State,” said Dr. Essell, medical oncologist, hematologist and transplant specialist. “We continually strive to provide our patients with the most advanced treatment options and this year, we were the first and are the only adult cancer group in Greater Cincinnati to offer leading-edge Chimeric Antigen Receptor T-Cell Therapy, also known as CAR-T, to adult patients with certain aggressive blood cancers.”

“Leukemia Certification recognizes health care organizations committed to fostering continuous quality improvement in patient safety and quality of care,” says Mark Pelletier, RN, MS, chief operating officer, Accreditation and Certification Operations, and chief nursing executive, The Joint Commission. “We commend The Jewish Hospital for using certification to reduce variation in its clinical processes and to strengthen its program structure and management framework for leukemia patients.”

Each year, thousands of people develop blood diseases, such as leukemia, Hodgkin’s disease, non-Hodgkin’s lymphoma and multiple myeloma that are treatable with blood stem cell or bone marrow transplants. The Jewish Hospital – Mercy Health is the Tri-State leader in blood cancers and has performed 2,200 bone marrow transplants since 1993. It performs more than 100 blood and bone marrow transplants each year. The Jewish Hospital earned The Joint Commission’s Gold Seal of Approval® for Bone Marrow Transplant Certification earlier this year.