Sarasota Memorial Hospital recently earned recognition as a Certified Quality Breast Center of Excellence—the highest quality designation awarded by the National Quality Measures for Breast Centers. The certification—achieved for meeting national quality and performance standards—was awarded during Breast Cancer Awareness Month in October, as SMH prepares to break ground on a new oncology tower and outpatient radiation oncology center. SMH is the only Florida hospital (and among 61 in the nation) currently designated as a “Certified Quality Breast Center of Excellence.” To earn certification, hospitals must demonstrate high-level performance on a number of quality measures, including imaging, surgery, radiation, cancer registry, pathology and patient satisfaction.  

Over the next few years, SMH is creating a premier Cancer Institute that will offer services across the entire continuum of cancer care, from prevention, screening, diagnosis and treatment, to survivorship, follow-up care and support, all in one location on the hospital’s main campus. Earlier this year, the Hospital Board approved $220 million to build a 170,000-square-foot, eight-story oncology tower on SMH’s main campus and a 17,500-square-foot outpatient radiation oncology center on the health system’s University Parkway/Honore campus. Groundbreakings on both facilities are slated for early next year, with the radiation center expected to open in 2020, followed by the tower in 2021.

Sarasota Memorial Hospital