ST. JOSEPH — Lakeland Health recently released the 2015 Cancer Care Report from the Marie Yeager Cancer Center, which outlines data collected to create more meaningful improvements for cancer diagnosis, treatment, rehabilitation, and support.

The report highlights Lakeland’s efforts to improve cancer care in southwest Michigan through the adaptation of Beacon, an electronic health record specific to medical oncology, which enhances the safety of chemotherapy administration and helps to improve communication between multiple clinicians through the use of a single system for patient records. Cancer patients using Lakeland MyChart now have the ability to access their appointments and request medication
refills online.

The report illustrates numerous local statistics pulled from 954 total cancer cases that were added to the National Cancer Data Base (NCDB). The 2015 report features data collected in 2014 including:

• Four most common cancer cases treated: female breast, prostate, lung, and colorectal

• Gender breakdown of patients treated: 51 percent were female and 49 percent were male

• Age breakdown of patients treated: 66.4 percent of patients were 60 years and older, 30.7 percent were between the ages of 30 and 59, and 2.9 percent were 29 years or younger

For more information or to read the full report, visit www.lakelandhealth.org/cancer.