Clinical Trials & Research
Clinical Trials & Research
The links below provide additional research and clinical trials information about Commonwealth Newburyport Cancer Center and stereotactic radiosurgery.
Clinical Quality
Commonwealth Newburyport Cancer Center is owned and operated by Alliance Oncology, a leading national provider of radiation therapy services. Alliance Oncology has assembled leaders in the field of radiation oncology to develop, implement and direct clinical aspects of our radiation oncology program with the goal of optimizing patient care and creating a culture of clinical excellence. Alliance Oncology has created and implemented rigorous clinical and safety criteria to ensure that all of our radiation oncology sites, including Commonwealth Newburyport Cancer Center, meet or exceed the industry’s highest standards for clinical quality, safety and patient care. You may not be familiar with the organizations or terms listed below, but we reference them to make you aware that we have strict standards for quality. Please feel free to ask a member of our clinical team for further explanation of our program.
Physics Program
Industry Standards
Our structured professional program is benchmarked against current national consensus guideline documents (American Association of Physicists in Medicine [AAPM] Task Group reports, American College of Radiology [ACR] Technical Standards). This program ensures that treatment planning, dose calculations and machine calibrations at every Alliance Oncology site are consistent with current “good practice” recommendations.
Peer Review
Alliance Oncology has an extensive peer review program, following the AAPM Task Group 103 recommendations. Each clinic’s physics program undergoes a formal peer review annually (a “mini ACR survey”). Peer reviews coupled with quarterly “mock inspections” ensure regulatory compliance, and annual independent validation of accelerator calibrations are conducted via the MD Anderson Radiological Physics Center’s dosimetry service. This provides stronger validation of quality and more transparency than nearly any other clinical physics program in the country.
Safety
We are serious about safety. We were the first radiation treatment center to integrate radiofrequency identification (RFID) technology into our operation to ensure the right treatment is delivered to the right patient every time. Each patient wears an identification card implanted with an RFID chip. When patients walk into the clinic, they are greeted and checked in by our staff. When the patient enters the radiation treatment room, the patient’s chart and customized treatment plan are automatically opened and in queue for treatment to begin. The technology is important because it is one more step to ensure patient safety.
Radiation Oncology
Alliance Oncology has created the following advisory boards and programs to provide clinical valuable resources to our radiation oncologists and clinical teams.
Clinical Advisory Board
Alliance Oncology is committed to work with our physician partners who are driven to maintain the highest standards of clinical quality and patient care. To that end, we have formed a Clinical Advisory Board that consists of radiation oncologists from our affiliated facilities. The Clinical Advisory Board meets on a semi-annual basis, and members represent Radiation Centers from both urban and rural markets in all parts of the country.
Medical Advisory Board
Medical Advisory Board was developed to provide insight to health issues, medical conditions, healthcare trends and new developments in the field of radiation oncology.
Physician Peer Review
Alliance Oncology considers the physician peer review process a high priority. Commonwealth Newburyport Cancer Center is among a group of regional Alliance Oncology facilities participating in weekly chart rounds through state-of-the-art conferencing technology. Each new patient is evaluated by a group of board-certified radiation oncologists, physicists, dosimetrists, nurses and radiation therapists who review the case to ensure a clear treatment path is in place.
After treatment begins, each patient’s case is reviewed on an ongoing basis to ensure that care is delivered safely and consistently. Current technology is balanced with a caring, common sense approach from an experienced clinical team.
Speak with one of our dedicated team members about how we can help today.