Top-notch cancer care doesn't require road trip
Community Hospital has been recognized for its comprehensive cancer program.
By JODIE TILLMAN
Published July 15, 2007
NEW PORT RICHEY - Less than an hour's drive away, researchers are testing a new leukemia drug, studying ovarian cancer genes and examining the effects of green tea on prostate cancer.
Little surprise, then, that when Pasco County residents learn they have cancer, many head to the nationally recognized H. Lee Moffitt Cancer Center and Research Institute in Tampa. Last year, more than 3,800 Pasco residents were treated at Moffitt, about 10 percent of the center's total patients, said spokeswoman Michelle Foley.
But Community Hospital in New Port Richey is hoping to show many local cancer patients they can get good care closer to home.
The hospital's evidence? Its new designation as a "community hospital comprehensive cancer program" by the Commission on Cancer, a program of the American College of Surgeons.
Several hospitals in Pasco and Hernando counties provide cancer treatment, but Community is the first to earn this prized accreditation. Moffitt is in an elite group designated as comprehensive cancer centers by the federal government.
Community's new designation means the hospital met a number of big-picture requirements, such as holding weekly meetings of different specialists who discuss patient cases, and referring at least 2 percent of the patients to clinical trials.
What does all that mean for patients? That Community Hospital has in place the types of procedures, treatment, staff and technology important to good care, said Asa Carter, manager for the Commission on Cancer's approval program.
"You should care because one of the things the commission promotes is quality care close to home," Carter said.
Not that doctors would hesitate to send their patients to Moffitt, especially if the center could provide specialized treatment, such as a stem-cell transplant, that they cannot, said Dr. K.S. Kumar, a Community Hospital physician who led the effort to win the approval.
But for a variety of reasons - the shorter drive for patients wiped out by chemotherapy being a big one - "standard (cancer) care is best delivered in the community," Kumar said.
The move for the accreditation started more than four years ago, when Community Hospital recognized that it was seeing more and more cancer patients, said Karen Simpson, the registered nurse who is the director of the 2-year-old oncology unit.
Treatment was much less cohesive and organized back then: Cancer patients were on the same floors as other patients. Teams of specialists and experts in such fields as palliative care did not meet on a regular basis.
The hospital wanted to do more, Simpson said, to "achieve a gold standard of care."
The drive has meant a number of big investments for the HCA-owned Community Hospital, according to spokeswoman Mary Sommise.
In addition to creating the 17-bed oncology unit, the hospital bought better scanning equipment and participates in a national cancer registry that collects data on types and stages of cancers and treatment results that can be tracked long-term.
"It's not something where we just paid money and got a certificate," she said. "It took years of hard work."
Last year, Community treated 1,035 cancer cases, the most prevalent being lung, colorectal and breast, the hospital said.
Evidence from a wide range of studies suggests cancer patients treated in a setting with a team of specialists and access to clinical research may live longer and have a better quality of life than those treated in hospitals and clinics without that level of care, according to the National Cancer Institute.
That's part of what underlies the requirements to add a lot more eyes to a cancer patient's charts.
In their weekly team meeting last week, for instance, the Community specialists discussed a couple of especially tricky cases in which the treatment plan was not obvious. One case involved a man with both bladder cancer and prostate cancer. The doctors brainstormed the man's options and debated one another.
The answer wasn't clear but the debate will help with the ultimate decision, Kumar said. "It's great to have several minds in the room," he said.
Dr. Gerald Robbins, who works at the Florida Cancer Institute and practices at Community, said the work over the last four years has been also aimed at getting patients connected more quickly to the latest research in promising treatment.
At any time, he said, Community Hospital is involved with about 25 to 30 clinical trials.
"We all trained in big universities," he said. "We want to bring that here."
That's not surprising news to Sandra Werner, the former Pasco County commissioner. When she was diagnosed with breast cancer in 2005, she never thought about heading to Tampa.
As one of Robbins' patients, she had her mastectomy performed at Community and received her chemotherapy treatment at the Florida Cancer Institute.
"I cannot for the life of me see driving all the way to Moffitt when we have such wonderful people right under our noses," she said. "I saw what these people do out there."
Jodie Tillman can be reached at (727) 869-6247 or jtillman@sptimes.com.More than 1,400 hospitals in the country, including Community Hospital and Regional Medical Center Bayonet Point, have received some level of approval from the American College of Surgeons' Commission on Cancer.
Community Hospital is one of 44 hospitals statewide with the commission's designation of "community hospital comprehensive cancer programs." That list also includes Morton Plant Hospital in Clearwater, Sarasota Memorial, Bayfront in St. Petersburg, and St. Joseph's and University Community Hospital in Tampa. Bayonet Point is classified in a group with smaller caseloads and less stringent requirements.
The Commission on Cancer works with American Cancer Society to provide information about cancer treatment centers around the country. For information visit http://www.cancer.org.