Highmark Health and Allegheny Health, both based in Pittsburgh, will infuse $200 million into cancer care initiatives in partnership with Baltimore-based Johns Hopkins Medicine, according to a Pittsburgh Business Times report.
The two-year investment will fund a new cancer institute at Pittsburgh-based Allegheny General Hospital, a move that is expected to create 175 jobs. The institute will include academic research and quaternary medical and radiation oncology. Construction on the institute is slated to begin by the end of 2017.
AHN will also erect multiple community oncology care sites under the partnership. Highmark Health President and CEO David Holmberg told Pittsburgh Business Times he expects the institute and community centers to be complete within the next two years.
In addition to the centers, the partnership will offer AHN patients remote consultations with Johns Hopkins' physicians, consultations between AHN and Johns Hopkins physicians and access to treatment and testing programs, the report states. Johns Hopkins will also become a preferred referral partner for Highmark BlueCard members.
The investment builds on a partnership between AHN and Johns Hopkins established in July 2014, the report states.