By Joanne Bailey-Boorsma
joanne@wktv.org

Since 2010, the Centers for Disease Control predicted that the number of new cancer cases has increased 24 percent. 

For those in the medical field, the reason for that increase varies from early detection to people living longer. Because of some of those reasons, many agree that cancer care has become subspecialized and getting the right care often means that some West Michigan residents have had to leave home to find it.

However, three institutions — Metro Health – University of Michigan Health, Mercy Health, and Michigan Medicine (formerly the University of Michigan Health System) — are looking to change that with a new initiative launched at the beginning of 2020, the Cancer Network of West Michigan.

The Cancer Network is being designed to integrate cancer care services in West Michigan with the goal of bringing broader access to advanced, state-of-the-art, comprehensive diagnosis treatment and support across leading health care institutions.

“We are really bringing together the talents of three world class organizations and combining it with the world class expertise of Michigan medicine,” said Dr. Peter Hahn, CEO and President of Metro Health – University of Michigan Health.

Dr. Hyung Kim, president of Mercy Health Saint Mary’s, said the partnership is actually a natural extension of partnerships that already exist between the institutions. They Cancer Network of West Michigan will build on the foundation established by a radiation oncology collaborative already linking radiation oncology services between Michigan Medicine and Metro Health and between Michigan Medicine and Mercy Health.

Hyung said the question became “What can we do to take it to the next level. Especially in something like cancer care where there are more therapies and things are getting more complicated. Working together can make a big different in terms of what you can offer a community.”

Combined, the three West Michigan facilities treat 13,658 cancer patients a year. They bring to the collaboration a combined of 63 cancer specialists and sub-specialists, along with access to the latest research, treatments and clinical trails.

 

What does this mean for the average patient? Two or three years ago, a person with lung cancer only had one option, which was standard therapy such as chemotherapy, Hahn said. Today, there are so many different advances in terms of molecularity therapy that through the Cancer Network, the three partnering organizations will be able to offer that care in West Michigan versus a person having to travel to Ann Arbor or the Mayo Clinic, he said.

“We all know that people do better if they get excellent care close to home,” Hyung said.

For patients, the new Cancer Network will provide a more standardized cancer base-care with less variance. No matter which facility a patient goes to, they should receive the same treatment options.

 

The initial announcement of the new initiative was received quite favorably by staff, acceding to the hospital officials. Currently, the three organizations are working to build the leadership team for the Cancer Network. There is a nationwide search for the person who will head the Network with the recruiting process for the specialists, who are in high demand, underway as well.

By having access to world class trials and advance therapies, Hahn said he believes the Cancer Network could help make West Michigan a destination for cancer care treatment.

“There is a lot of work to come, but we are all confident this could be a regional leading, potentially a national leader, in cancer care,” Hahn said. 

To learn more about the Cancer Network of West Michigan, visit wmicancernetwork.org.

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