Cellular Therapy Accreditation Committee News and Notes
The Cellular Therapy (CT) Accreditation Committee has been busy in 2017 reviewing inspection results for 107 programs, including 5 new programs applying for their initial accreditation. The committee reviews accreditation reports for programs inspected under the FACT-JACIE International Standards for Hematopoietic Cellular Therapy, the FACT Common Standards for Cellular Therapies, and the FACT Standards for Immune Effector Cells. After review, the Committee makes recommendations to the FACT Board of Directors regarding an applicant’s accreditation status.
The following are points of interest regarding the CT Accreditation Committee:
- The committee is comprised of volunteer members from FACT-accredited programs representing clinical, collection, and processing expertise.
- Inspectors are encouraged to join committee meetings when their reports will be discussed to provide answers to committee members’ questions. This provides a helpful source of information to the committee when making accreditation outcome decisions.
- Compliance issues noted by inspectors are used for recommendations to the Education Committee to incorporate into inspector training and for FACT workshops and boot camps.
- Commonly cited deficiency data is compiled for publication along with recommendations for programs to avoid those deficiencies. The data is also considered by FACT when revising standards.
The next year looks to be busier than ever with increasing numbers of accredited programs, programs expanding their range of accredited services, and the publication of the seventh edition of the Hematopoietic Cellular Therapy Standards. Also in the coming year will be a public comment period for the next edition of the Common Standards. Additional information about the new Standards will be published leading up to March, so be sure to keep an eye on the FACT website and your email inbox for more information.
Article written by Suzanne Birnley, MS, MBA
