State panel denies St. Luke's application for cancer radiation center

A state panel Wednesday rejected a bid by St. Luke's Hospital in Cedar Rapids to offer radiation therapy for cancer patients, saying the request appeared more of a strategy move than actual need.

The State Health Facilities Council voted 4-1 to deny St. Luke's certificate of need application, noting that the Cedar Rapids medical market already appeared to be over-served by three existing imaging devices at nearby Mercy Medical Center without authorizing a fourth linear accelerator.

St. Luke's application was for a $5.5 million imaging scanner and linear accelerator, a machine that delivers a high-energy x-ray to the patient's tumor, which destroys cancer cells while sparing surrounding tissue.

Iowa's certificate of need program is designed to prevent costly duplication of medical services, and several council members expressed concern that authorizing another radiation therapy device would run counter to the program's mission.

St. Luke's officials said their application was part of a collaborative effort with Cedar Rapids physicians to provide radiation treatment via an innovative and long-discussed community cancer center that would be separate from both Cedar Rapids hospitals.

Council members applauded that effort but said it was outside the scope of their regulatory duties in rejecting the application while urging the interested parties to proceed independently with efforts to establish the first such free-standing community cancer center in Iowa.

“I think the decision of the board was the correct decision. There already is sufficient capacity. Our radiation center will be able to take care of patients even in the context of a community cancer center for years to come,” said Mercy president and CEO Tim Charles.

However, representatives of St. Luke's and a Cedar Rapids physicians' group said Mercy has thrown up a “road block” to establishing a unique collaborative cancer center offering multidisciplinary services and council approval of the certificate of need application could get those negotiations moving by placing both hospitals “on equal footing.”

“You heard a very eloquent defense of the status quo today,” said Des Moines attorney Doug Gross, arguing on behalf of St. Luke's. He said Mercy has used a “slow no” to impede the community cancer center and unless the state council removed that road block “our journey's done.”

However, council members Cynthia Beauman, Marc Elcock and chairwoman Karen Hope said they failed to see a demonstrated need for St. Luke's requested linear accelerator, and council member Suki Cell said “I do believe we're being part of a strategy to get the cancer center pulled together.”

Only council member Chuck Follett voted for the application as a means to promote a forward-thinking collaborative concept.

After the meeting, St. Luke's CEO Ted Townsend called the outcome of significant setback.

“We'll go back to the table and we will continue to hope that community cancer center project can proceed, but I would be less than honest if I say that I'm optimistic we'll be able to be successful at this point,” he said.

However, Charles said Mercy remains committed to the process.

“Creating a single destination community cancer center is in the interest of Cedar Rapids,” he said. “We're optimistic. We'll be at the table and we'll look forward to coming back together and beginning the discussions anew.”