The Benedril dripping into Patricia Burford's right arm can make her a little loopy for a while, she concedes.

It's a small price to pay to survive three flavors of cancer. But things might have been worse if the oncology center where she receives weekly treatment wasn't near her home in Lawrenceville, she said.

"I can't drive with my leg," she said, indicating a spot where she had recently had surgery related to bone cancer. Burford's daughter Patricia Lewis sat across from her, waiting to take her home. "She has to take off from work to bring me here," Burford said.

One floor below, a new office of Georgia Cancer Specialists opened a few weeks ago.

The new Georgia Center for Total Cancer Care at Gwinnett Medical Center combines the pre-existing treatment facility at Atlanta Oncology Associates with services from Georgia Cancer Specialists.

"There's a big need here," said Dr. James Hamrick, an oncologist and hemotologist with Georgia Cancer Specialists. "The reality is that cancer patients have more to worry about than traffic patterns."

The cancer treatment center will formally cut the ribbon on the new office Thursday, but it already serves from 20 to 50 patients a week.

The center's doctors stress the need for patients to be able to get service close to home without a lot of driving from one office to another. "I think it's very important to have a multidisciplinary practice in the area," said Dr. Craig Wilkinson, a radiation oncologist at the clinic.

Opening the office in Lawrenceville next to Gwinnett Medical Center was relatively hassle-free compared to the introduction of some medical services around Atlanta. Hospitals and clinics are required to apply for a certificate of need from the state before offering certain services. Those applications can be challenged by nearby service providers.

An overhaul of state health-care regulations involving certificates of need won House approval by a vote of 138-17, on the final day of the General Assembly in April.

The compromise plan expanded a Senate bill that could lead to Cancer Treatment Centers of America building a $150 million facility near Hartsfield-Jackson International Airport. The facility would be required to draw 65 percent of its patients from outside Georgia.

The new clinic in Lawrenceville faced no certificate of need issues, but Atlanta Oncology Associates is embroiled in a dispute over a proposed $6 million expansion of its Northside Alpharetta Cancer Treatment Center in Alpharetta. The application for a certificate of need notes that the Alpharetta clinic sees thousands of patients a year, but challenges from Northside Hospital have held up the clinic's expansion.