Cancer patients across the Southeast will have another treatment option next year with a new, $150 million specialty hospital under construction just south of Atlanta.
Illinois-based Cancer Treatment Centers of America – known for a holistic approach to care and less conventional therapies – began work on the 260,000-square-foot, 50-bed cancer hospital in Newnan last month.
Right now, hundreds of patients from the Southeast travel long distances to one of the company’s other four hospitals in the Chicago, Phoenix, Philadelphia and Tulsa, Okla., areas, said Tim Birdsall, vice president of integrative medicine.
“Patients tell us that access and proximity to home is important,” Birdsdall said.
Slated to open in September 2012, the metro Atlanta facility is expected to help the economy by generating an estimated 500 jobs. But some medical providers worry the for-profit operation will hurt local nonprofit hospitals by only taking profitable patients – leaving community providers to care for those unable to pay.
For many hospitals that are already struggling financially, caring for more uninsured patients and fewer paying ones could force them to increase costs for the insured or stop offering services, said Monty Veazey, president of the Georgia Alliance of Community Hospitals.
“When you have someone who comes in and cherry picks the system, it hurts all,” Veazey said.
The facility became a source of controversy a few years ago when Cancer Treatment Centers lobbied the legislature for permission to operate in Georgia. Lawmakers opened the door for the specialty hospital as long as it stuck to certain criteria, including ensuring at least 65 percent of its patients come from out of state. Like all Georgia hospitals, it will also be required to provide charity care equal to 3 percent of adjusted gross revenue, said David Kent, Southeast senior vice president of operations.
The company’s goal is to build partnerships with Georgia health care providers, not compete with them, said Kane Dawson, who will head the new hospital.
Two-thirds of Cancer Treatment Centers patients typically coming from out of state, Dawson said. The Newnan site was picked, in part, because it’s close to a major airport, he said.
The hospital will spur local development, such as hotels, and give a boost to local businesses, Newnan Mayor Keith Brady said.
For Rayna Hewitt of Snellville, the new hospital means an hour-and-15-minute drive instead of flights and hotel stays.
Hewitt, who was diagnosed with breast cancer in February, said she has already made eight trips to the company’s Philadelphia facility and will have to go every few months over the next five years.
“I’m just thrilled … they’re coming here,” she said.
Hospital executives are already working to build relationships in Tampa, Charlotte and other key Southeast markets to ensure the right balance of patients, Dawson said. If the company repeatedly surpasses its limit of in-state patients, it could face up to $20 million in fines over four years.
Founded in 1988, Cancer Treatment Centers of America uses an integrated approach to care that combines standard treatments, such as chemotherapy, with alternative therapies, including acupuncture, mind-body medicine and nutrition.
People often have a skewed view of what the company does, Birdsall said.
“We’re seen as the folks who are doing the alternative therapies and not doing conventional cancer care,” he said. “Nothing is further from the truth.”
Cancer Treatment Centers offers conventional treatment. At the same time, spiritual support, exercise and other approaches can help people better cope with the disease and its treatments, ultimately helping them make good decisions about their care, Birdsall said.
Hewitt said the mind-body therapy she received helped her deal with her fears and emotions.
“For months, I would see something or hear something or read something, and I would be bawling my eyes out,” she said. “It really did relieve a lot of pressure.”
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