New legal documents filed by Dana-Farber Cancer Institute delve further into the organization's reasoning for its $1.68 billion endeavor to establish a standalone cancer hospital in partnership with Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center, The Boston Globe reported Oct. 25.
Dana-Farber and Beth Israel Deaconess shared plans to build a freestanding inpatient cancer hospital in Boston Sept. 14. The news marked a shake-up of the city's current cancer landscape, as Dana-Farber and Brigham and Women's Hospital have been longtime partners for cancer care. The two have been clinically affiliated since 1997 and their current agreement runs through 2028.
Dana-Farber cited the need for more capacity as a key factor for the proposed hospital, arguing it would cut emergency department wait times for patients who need to be admitted and increase competition in the city, according to a summary of its "determination of need" filing obtained by the Globe.
About seven patients per day cannot transfer to Dana-Farber's current facility due to a lack of available beds, which "fragments care and results in increased medical costs and poorer outcomes," the filing says.
Dana-Farber said past efforts to discuss growth and ways to increase capacity with Brigham and Women's "were not successful."
The filing also argues the proposed hospital site will be more accessible for patients due to its proximity to public transportation services.
In a recent op-ed published in the Globe, Mass General Brigham President and CEO Anne Klibanski, MD, said the system will "continue to provide hundreds of inpatient beds dedicated to cancer care" and that the systems' "thousands of doctors and researchers" remain committed to comprehensive cancer care.