Mary Rosenow, MD, is among an elite group of physicians to receive the Cancer Liaison Physician Outstanding Performance Award from the American College of Surgeons CoC (Commission on Cancer).
Jennifer Badiu, administrative director of SIH Cancer Care Services and The Breast Center, said the hardest part about nominating Rosenow for the award was trying to narrow down the reasons she should receive it.
Only 57 physicians from 23 states received this national honor. The award recognizes individuals who go above and beyond what might be considered their regular duties.
Rosenow said, “When I got involved in the cancer program I got really excited about what I learned about the structure of the American College of Surgeons Commission on Cancer and the community hospital program requirements and standards. I think Memorial Hospital of Carbondale has done a wonderful job living up to and addressing those standards and requirements. I’m glad to have been a part of their commitment to do that.”
“Dr. Rosenow was and has been a driving force in the establishment of the Breast Center,” said Badiu. “There have been great changes and expansion of services at the center, including digital mammography, creation and staffing of the patient navigator program, recruiting a fellowship-trained mammographer and centralizing the readings of mammograms system-wide. The facility has vastly improved its quality and made patient care more efficient. She has helped to eliminate a prolonged wait time from diagnostic mammogram to biopsy to surgery.”
At Rosenow’s request, the Breast Center became a working group under the Cancer Committee. She demands frequent in-house quality reviews and has integrated cancer care quality discussions within the larger framework of multispecialty quality improvement services at Memorial Hospital of Carbondale. She created practice protocols for the triage and study of breast patients, standardizing their care and creating a unified approach to breast cancer treatment.
Rosenow is an active member of the SIH Cancer Care Leadership Council, which was developed to guide the direction of the cancer care program. She heads up a sub-committee Clinical Management Standards of Care - developed with a focus of providing the highest quality care based on the NCCN standards.
The surgeon has contributed to the approval status of a cancer program by ensuring compliance with all of the CoC Standards. In an ongoing effort to enhance the Cancer Program, Southern Illinois Healthcare (SIH) administrators and the Cancer Committee decided to proceed with efforts to upgrade from a Community Hospital Cancer Program to a Network Program. This initiative will take three to five years.
Once the final decision was made, Rosenow took on a vigorous role during the conversion. She not only partook in the initial teleconferences with CoC but continued to stay involved by attending the Cancer Centralization meetings.
Rosenow was responsible for arranging meetings with local medical oncologist to discuss participation in clinical trials as well as the on-going challenge of ensuring medical oncology information was provided to the registry.
“Dr. Rosenow is an influential advocate for the Cancer Registry,” said Christena Vallegra, Cancer Information Coordinator.
“She continues to take part in the CoC conferences and provide feedback to the Cancer Committee,” said Badiu. “In May 2006, she attended a web conference, ‘Maximizing your use of the NCDB’; June 2006 attended, ‘How to measure quality in your cancer program’ and February 2007 viewed, ‘CLP – Advocate for registry staff’.”
Rosenow continues to support the Cancer Conferences by arranging speakers and presenting cases herself. She continues to be in dialogue with the pathologists to ensure compliance with CAP protocols, now at 100 percent completeness.
“Dr. Rosenow is an extremely enthusiastic and devoted physician who is most deserving of this award,” said surgeon Marsha Ryan, MD. “It has been my honor and pleasure to work side by side with a physician who is dedicated to the cause.”
Now retired from surgery, Dr. Rosenow has assumed an administrative role as Medical Director of the Cancer Program.
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