Eastern Iowa cancer patients might think competition is ramping up to woo their business, but hospital leaders say that's not the case.

“We don't see it as a lucrative thing,” said Ted Townsend, CEO of St. Luke's Hospital in Cedar Rapids. “We see (cancer) as a growing thing.”

Statistics show, however, that cancer cases in Iowa are not fluctuating much.

The ongoing rivalry between St. Luke's and Mercy Medical Center in Cedar Rapids came to a head in August when Mercy pre-empted a long-discussed plan to open a community cancer center at a neutral site. Mercy announced it is building a $10.7 million Destination Cancer Center next to the hospital's Hall Radiation Center.

To Mercy CEO Tim Charles, the center makes sense because it brings all components of cancer care under one roof.

Charles noted that Mercy has invested more than $5 million in new cancer technology in the past two years, such as the Trilogy accelerator that was added last year to the hospital's arsenal of radiation therapy.

“I hope the entire medical community will realize this is, in fact, beneficial to the community,” he said, adding he believes there is no need to duplicate Mercy's efforts.

St. Luke's does not have a radiation program but is a leader in other areas of cancer treatment, such as robotic surgeries for prostate cancer, Townsend said, noting the program attracts out-of-state patients. Since January 2009, 143 robotic prostatectomies were performed at St. Luke's.

Both hospitals treat a nearly equal number of cancer patients. In 2009, St. Luke's cared for 905 cancer patients, while Mercy treated 939.

The Iowa Cancer Registry shows numbers have fluctuated little in the past decade. In 1997, 13,310 Iowans were diagnosed with cancer, compared with 13,602 in 2007, the most recent year statistics are available.

Those patients can be moneymakers, said Dr. David Winchester, medical director of the American College of Surgeons Cancer Programs. Winchester said in the health care world, the common terminology for cancer patients is “product line.”

While the high-tech equipment to treat cancer is expensive, he said, “the revenue generated is high. They have to have the return on their investments.”

Winchester said competition isn't necessarily bad for cancer patients.

The college has accredited nearly 1,500 cancer treatment centers throughout the United States. St. Luke's is among the most recent.

Kimberly Ivester, St. Luke's Cancer Care director, said the hospital began going through the accreditation process three years before Mercy's announcement and in response to a growing number of patients.

A recent billboard touting the accreditation is not in response to Mercy's destination center, Townsend said, but a standard way to let patients know about the hospital's achievement - similar to past accomplishments in disciplines such as chest pain.

St. Luke's is in discussions with Physicians' Clinic of Iowa to locate some of its cancer support services in PCI's forthcoming medical mall on Second Avenue SE. Townsend said St. Luke's has asked for 8,000 to 10,000 square feet in the mall.

“It's kind of the new chronic disease,” he said, necessitating patients to be close to their doctors “and that really is in the medical mall.”

Townsend said the idea behind the community cancer center was to compete on a regional basis with places like University of Iowa Hospitals and Clinics in Iowa City and the Mayo Clinic, just three hours north of Cedar Rapids in Rochester, Minn.

UI Hospitals and Clinics saw 14,944 cancer patients in fiscal 2010.

Dr. George Weiner, director of the UI-based Holden Comprehensive Cancer Center, said Holden competes with Mayo but also collaborates in cancer research and clinical trials.

Collaboration is “more important,” he said. “It should be about what's right for the patient.”

Mercy Iowa City also competes and collaborates with its heavyweight neighbor. The hospital treated 525 cancer patients in 2008.

Jeanne Hein, oncology service line manager at Mercy Iowa City, said Cancer Care of Iowa City, staffed by doctors from both hospitals, represents the collaboration.

Rare forms of cancer or those requiring bone-marrow transplants are referred to the UI, but Mercy created its own niche by offering all components of cancer care at a community hospital, she said.

All hospital leaders noted that many of those components are uncompensated, including “navigators” hired to help patients through the whole realm of treatment.

Holly Smith, comprehensive cancer control coordinator for the Iowa Department of Public Health, said although only 16 of Iowa's 117 hospitals have the American College of Surgeons accreditation, others offer some forms of treatment, such as chemotherapy.

Smith has not weighed in on the competition between Mercy and St. Luke's, but noted that competing hospitals were recently built in West Des Moines, “so it's not a new thing.”

“In a perfect world, all services would be very coordinated, very centralized,” she said. “The sum is greater than the individual parts.”

astern Iowa cancer patients might think competition is ramping up to woo their business, but hospital leaders say that's not the case.