Hospital, cancer center end competition, form partnership
Penrose-St. Francis Health Services and Rocky Mountain Cancer Centers have agreed to form a partnership that will end competition between the two and give cancer patients more coordinated care.
Under a letter of intent signed Wednesday, Penrose-St. Francis will focus on radiation oncology, which uses specialized radiation therapy to treat patients, while Rocky Mountain will focus on medical oncology, which uses chemotherapy to treat patients, the Catholic hospital system and Denver-based cancer treatment practice announced Thursday. A final agreement is expected by late November and the alliance is expected to begin Jan. 1.
“Cancer care is very fragmented in this community,” said Jamie Smith, chief operating officer for Penrose-St. Francis. “It is not the best thing for the patient to be bounced around between the doctor, the hospital, the imaging center and other care providers. We are trying to make a better experience for patients. Working together also will help us to be more efficient and provide better value to employers and other payers.”
Under the agreement, Dr. Andrew Tanner, a radiation oncologist, will move from Rocky Mountain to the Penrose-St. Francis Cancer Center, and Dr. Jim Young, a medical oncologist, will move from Penrose-St. Francis to Rocky Mountain. Penrose-St. Francis also will acquire Rocky Mountain’s radiation oncology business, although its equipment will be sent to another U.S. Oncology Inc. clinic; U.S. Oncology owns and manages Rocky Mountain’s clinic.
The deal will leave Rocky Mountain with 12 medical oncologists in the Springs and Penrose-St. Francis with three radiation oncologists, and leaves city-owned Memorial Health System as the only other local provider of medical and radiation oncology services. Rocky Mountain also plans to continue providing services to Memorial patients, said Dr. Bob Sayre, medical director for Rocky Mountain’s Colorado Springs operations.
Talks began in spring 2009 to create the partnership to provide more coordinated and cost-efficient care and improve access to leading-edge technology and clinical trials, Sayre said. The discussions were at least in part influenced by health care reform legislation signed into law earlier this year by President Obama that could reduce reimbursements for many types of health care, he said.
