Dec 17, 2008

New building to be finished in 2010

Dec 17, 2008

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By: Diane Cochran, Billings Gazette

An independent medical practice will build a 39,000-square-foot freestanding cancer center on the city's West End, making Billings home to two large cancer treatment facilities and again pushing into doubt the future of the city's longtime radiation oncology provider.

Hematology Oncology Centers of the Northern Rockies announced Tuesday that it will build the $23 million center on 6.5 acres of vacant land at Grand Avenue and 32nd Street West. The target completion date is January 2010.

Meanwhile, Hematology Oncology Centers will change its name to Frontier Cancer Centers and Blood Institute.

"A new frontier in cancer care is coming to Billings," said Dr. Patrick Cobb, the practice's managing partner.

The medical office, located in the Yellowstone Medical Center complex on North 30th Street, is an independent practice of oncologists who admit patients to St. Vincent Healthcare.

Its cancer center will be the second multimillion-dollar cancer treatment facility to open in Billings.

A 50,000-square-foot, $30 million cancer center is already under construction on Billings Clinic's downtown campus. It is slated to open in August 2009.

"There's a huge demand for cancer care in this area," Cobb said. "There are so many more things we can do for patients now. Looking at the numbers and looking at the services needed, we're confident our center will be sustainable."

The head of Billings Clinic's cancer program said the hospital's decision to build a cancer center was also based on trends that show a growing demand for cancer care.

"When we planned our new center, we knew there would continue to be other choices for cancer care in our community and region," Dr. Thomas Purcell said in a statement. "But we have maintained our focus on delivering what we believe is the best vision for coordinated, comprehensive cancer care and research."

Hematology Oncology's announcement again casts doubt on the future of the Northern Rockies Radiation Oncology Center, a radiation treatment center that has been operated as a partnership between the city's two hospitals for 21 years.

The future of the center, located at 1041 N. 29th St., first became uncertain when Billings Clinic decided to outfit its new cancer center with radiation technology.

Billings Clinic will withdraw from the radiation partnership, leaving Northern Rockies to be operated solely by St. Vincent beginning Jan. 1.

With Hematology Oncology also planning to offer radiation services at its cancer center, it is unclear what patients would be treated at the Northern Rockies center.

St. Vincent does not employ its own oncologists. Cancer treatment that takes place at the hospital is managed by Hematology Oncology's physicians.

"Our patients are our No. 1 priority," said St. Vincent spokeswoman Jeanelle Slade. "I can't talk about what might or might not happen. I can tell you we're going to continue to provide quality care for our cancer patients."

The hospital hopes to continue working with the Hematology Oncology practice, Slade said.

Radiation at the practice's new center will be delivered using image-guided technology that reduces radiation exposure to noncancerous tissue, Cobb said.

The two-story cancer center will also be outfitted for research and clinical trials and to offer chemotherapy and brachytherapy, a cancer treatment that delivers high doses of radiation to tumors by attaching tiny radioactive rods to the tissue.

Support services such as massage, nutrition and naturopathy will also be offered on site. The building was designed by Wisconsin-based Erdman Co., which specializes in building medical facilities.

"It will be a center where all cancer treatment can be unified in one space," said Dr. Ben Marchello, another oncologist at Hematology Oncology Centers.

Locating the new facility on the West End will make it convenient for patients, Marchello said. With the majority of cancer care done on an outpatient basis, it is no longer necessary for a treatment center to be near a hospital, he said.

"Most patients hopefully don't see the inside of a hospital," Marchello said.