Partnerships expand MD Anderson’s reach from coast to coast

The MD Anderson Cancer Network’s four newest partnerships are providing adult cancer patients in California, Texas and New Jersey with access to the most advanced oncology care in the country.

In November, MD Anderson and The University of Texas Health Science Center at San Antonio announced an affiliation that will provide care for patients in 38 South Texas counties. Through this agreement, the Cancer Therapy & Research Center of the UT Health Science Center will be known as UT Health San Antonio MD Anderson Cancer Center when it opens in 2017.

At the new center, patients will have access to MD Anderson’s treatment protocols, standards of care, extensive clinical trials and translational research.

“Beyond all these obvious advantages is that we will be able to offer our region the very best care close to home,” says UT Health Science Center President William Henrich, M.D.

Leveraging the UT System’s strengths

In another move toward collaboration across the UT System, MD Anderson and The University of Texas Health Science Center at Tyler announced a partnership in December that will provide care for patients in northeast Texas and the surrounding region. Through this agreement, UT Health Northeast’s Cancer Treatment and Prevention Center will be known as UT Health Northeast MD Anderson Cancer Center when it officially launches in late 2017.

The new cancer center will be fully integrated with MD Anderson in Houston, which means Tyler patients will have access to the same high level of cancer care and clinical trials as those in Houston.

UT Health Northeast MD Anderson will practice multidisciplinary care based on MD Anderson’s model, and physicians in Tyler will collaborate with MD Anderson faculty members on clinical discussions and tumor boards to make recommendations for individual patients.

“This partnership will help reduce cancer rates in our region, where citizens are among the unhealthiest in the state due to lack of access to care,” says Kirk Calhoun, M.D., president of UT Health Northeast.

The agreements between MD Anderson, UT Health San Antonio and UT Health Northeast support the vision of UT System Chancellor William McRaven to create a “quantum leap” by building collaborative teams of UT System institutions based on the respective strengths and expertise of the institutions within the UT System.

Growing in the Garden State

In April, MD Anderson and Summit Medical Group, the largest and oldest physician-owned multispecialty practice in New Jersey, announced they would join together to form the Summit Medical Group MD Anderson Cancer Center, bringing worldclass cancer services to patients in northern New Jersey and the surrounding area. MD Anderson first brought its top-ranked cancer care to the state in 2013, when it partnered with Cooper University Health Care to create MD Anderson Cancer Center at Cooper in Camden, New Jersey. Summit Medical Group is an extension of MD Anderson at Cooper. MD Anderson’s partnership with Summit is the first time the cancer center has partnered with a physician-owned-and-governed multispecialty group.

Better care for Southern California

In August, MD Anderson and San Diego-based Scripps Health agreed to an affiliation that creates Scripps MD Anderson Cancer Center. The center provides care to patients in eight Southern California counties, from Santa Barbara to the U.S.-Mexico border.

“This new alliance gives Southern Californians easy access to MD Anderson’s proven, research-based approach to cancer care,” says Scripps Health President and CEO Chris Van Gorder. “Our partnership builds on Scripps’ history of providing exceptional cancer care to our region and allows us to offer the best cancer treatment available anywhere.”

Physicians and administrators from MD Anderson and Scripps together oversee patient care and research at Scripps MD Anderson, where patients have access to comprehensive cancer care, including medical, radiation and surgical oncology; pathology; laboratory and diagnostic imaging; and other clinical and support services.

These most recent partnerships make Scripps MD Anderson, UT Health San Antonio MD Anderson and UT Health Northeast MD Anderson part of MD Anderson Cancer Network, a global collaborative network of hospitals and health care systems dedicated to MD Anderson’s mission to end cancer.