Hospitals

University Hospitals plans $30M proton center; does Cleveland need it?

University Hospitals has become Ohio’s latest entrant into the proton beam therapy medical arms race, […]

University Hospitals has become Ohio’s latest entrant into the proton beam therapy medical arms race, and has unveiled plans for a $30 million proton center that’s scheduled to open in 2014.

The center would be part of University Hospitals’ (UH) 120-bed, $260 million Seidman Cancer Center, which is expected to open next month, according to a statement from Cleveland-based UH.

Last year, plans were announced to establish two competing proton therapy centers in the Dayton area, though backers of each project have been quiet in recent months. Each of those projects have projected a 2013 opening date. Plans to build a proton center in Dublin fell apart about two years ago.

Still, UH touts its planned proton center as “the first confirmed in Ohio,” according to the statement. There are just nine proton therapy centers operating in the U.S., though many more are in the planning stages.

Proton therapy was first proposed in the 1950s, but it didn’t start generating much attention until the last decade as plans for centers providing the service began to ramp up. Now, as the U.S. population ages and investors sense its profit-making potential, proton therapy is drawing increased attention from advocates and skeptics alike.

Precision and intensity are the chief benefits of proton therapy, compared with the alternative treatment, traditional X-ray radiation therapy. Proton therapy allows for more exact targeting of a tumor, which reduces the damage to surrounding tissue, compared with photon beams, which are used in traditional radiation therapy.

Few argue that proton therapy is ineffective, though many would like to see it subjected to rigorous testing. The National Cancer Institute (NCI) in 2009 expressed concern that “enthusiasm for this promising therapy may be getting ahead of the research.” NCI experts worry about a lack of published randomized, controlled trials that show proton therapy works better than standard radiation therapy and increases survival, or improves quality of life for patients.

Cost is also a huge concern associated with proton therapy — and one reason so many hospitals are eager to jump into the proton therapy business. Medicare reimburses proton therapy at about twice the rate of standard radiation therapy, which prompts concerns that patients (or their insurers) could pay twice the price for a treatment that may be no more effective than the cheaper alternative.

Noted ex-hospital executive/blogger Paul Levy discussed his concerns on the topic in an excellent blog post last year called “Protons killing cancer and our budget.” Levy wrote:

There is no way this makes sense. As noted, the main value of these machines is in treating certain distinct forms of cancer. The problem occurs when one is purchased as a prestige item. Since there is not enough demand for its use for the appropriate cases, it starts to be used for other types of cancer that would ordinarily be treated with traditional forms of radiotherapy.

UH plans to purchase a less-costly, “next-generation” proton system from Massachusetts-based Still River Systems. The company’s Monarch 250 system, which has not yet received regulatory approval to be sold in the U.S., is more compact than its counterparts currently on the market, which can cost as much as $150 million. UH said it anticipates the Monarch 250 will obtain U.S. Food and Drug Administration approval “in the near future.”

UH will pay for the $30 million project through a mix of capital, bonds and philanthropy, The Plain Dealer reported.

It’ll be interesting to see if UH’s chief local rival, Cleveland Clinic, feels the need to keep pace and jump into the proton therapy medical arms race and draw up plans for its own proton center — a move proton skeptics like Levy would almost certainly denounce as overkill. A Clinic spokeswoman didn’t immediately respond to a request for comment.

Shares0
Shares0