Baptist Health, MD Anderson Partner on Cancer Program
JACKSONVILLE, Fla. — Baptist Health, a hospital network based in Jacksonville, and the University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center (MD Anderson) in Houston have agreed to partner on a joint cancer program that will help patients have increased access to oncology care and treatment.
As part of the agreement, Baptist Health will become a partner member of MD Anderson Cancer Network. This means the Baptist Health cancer program will be operationally and clinically integrated with MD Anderson so that patients at Baptist MD Anderson will benefit from the same range of multidisciplinary care options as available in Houston, including access to ongoing cancer research and select clinical trials.
The institutions have agreed to launch the Baptist MD Anderson Cancer Center, which is anticipated to open in the fall of 2015, providing a single destination for coordinated, multidisciplinary cancer care for adults in the Jacksonville region.
Initially, the program will be housed in the Baptist Outpatient Center on the campus of Baptist Medical Center Jacksonville, where the Hill Breast Center is currently located. This temporary home will be replaced by a new cancer care building, which will begin the design and build process in the coming months, with an expected open date of 2017. This dedicated facility will be designed to serve a spectrum of cancer care needs, from screening and diagnosis to treatment and survivorship.
Baptist Health and MD Anderson are working together to recruit oncologists and other medical and surgical experts to join the existing cancer care staff. The goal is to replicate the MD Anderson model of care.
“The final approval of this agreement brings us one step closer toward the realization of our partnership with an international leader in cancer care,” said Hugh Greene, president and CEO of Baptist Health, in a statement. “We look forward to bringing Baptist MD Anderson Cancer Center to operational and clinical reality over the coming months.”
MD Anderson is the largest freestanding cancer center in the world. Since it began in 1941, nearly 1 million patients have sought cancer care and prevention services provided by the center. MD Anderson ranks first in the total amount of grant dollars from the National Cancer Institute and employs more than 20,000 people, including more than 1,800 physicians and scientists.
Baptist Health includes five hospitals with 1,129 beds, 1,644 medical staff and more than 250 outpatient facilities throughout north Florida and southern Georgia. All four of Baptist Health’s adult hospitals have National Accreditation Program for Breast Centers (NAPBC)-accredited breast centers, including Hill Breast Center in Jacksonville, which is the only dedicated breast center of its size in the region.