Cancer center tests providers’ will

In early April 2008, more than 40 doctors and other health officials held their first joint discussion about a proposed cancer center in Cedar Rapids. The idea of a one-stop treatment facility to better serve patients while reducing duplication of services and improving cost control looked attractive.

Like some of what grass-roots health care reform might include.

Sixteen months later, the idea has stalled. Getting all the players on the same track appears to be the biggest hangup. Understandable, perhaps, because this is complicated. But disappointing nonetheless.

The key players who must collaborate to make a cancer center a reality are the two Cedar Rapids hospitals, Mercy Medical Center and St. Luke's Hospital. Their leaders have voiced support. But both offer various cancer services and have yet to overcome logistical, financial and competitive roadblocks.

A bid by St. Luke's for permission to provide cancer radiation therapy illustrates the problem.

St. Luke's application to the State Health Facilities Council was an effort to advance the cancer center, said CEO Ted Townsend, who pledged that the radiation facility would be located at the cancer center.

Mercy objected, noting it already offers the service and is at 60 percent capacity with no backlog. Allowing St. Luke's request would dilute Mercy's patient volume, said Mercy spokeswoman Karen Vander Sanden.

On Aug. 19, the state facilities council rejected St. Luke's certificate of need application, saying the Cedar Rapids market was already overserved by Mercy.

But council members also urged both hospitals to pursue the cancer center proposal. All of which points toward the significance of Mercy and St. Luke's working out their differences.

Dr. Robert Brimmer, a surgeon at PCI Surgical Specialists, told us as much. “It's really important for the community to use resources in a joint, collaborative way rather than competing up and down 10th Street.”

Neither hospital can create a viable cancer center on its own, he believes. And as it stands, about one of every five Cedar Rapids area cancer patients leaves town to find a comprehensive treatment center rather than deal with the splintered array of local providers.

Brimmer also told us there are discussions about locating the cancer center adjacent to or within the PCI building because the clinic offers the largest group of cancer specialists in the city.

There are many stakeholders in the medical community who struggle to balance self-interest - staying in business - with that of serving the community at large. The two don't have to be incompatible.

If a comprehensive cancer center makes sense for patients and the community, we believe our local providers can and should find a way to make it work.