Dana-Farber, Beth Israel Team Up To Create a Cancer Hospital

Dana Farber Cancer Institute (Dana-Farber) is cutting ties with Brigham and Women’s Hospital to build a freestanding cancer hospital with another Boston healthcare leader.

The specialty provider recently announced that it is teaming up with Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center (BIDMC) to build what would be the region’s only independent inpatient hospital for adult cancer patients.

The newfound collaboration means inpatient cancer care would shift from Brigham and Women’s Hospital, a longtime partner of Dana-Farber, to the proposed hospital staffed by Dana-Farber and BIDMC’s affiliated physician group, Harvard Medical Faculty Physicians (HMFP). Although, Dana-Farber’s current affiliation with Brigham and Women’s Hospital for inpatient and surgical care will continue through the transition, which leaders expect to take several years.

The Boston Globe reports that Brigham and Women’s was “blindsided” by the announcement as leaders were confident they were nearing the end of ongoing negotiations with Dana-Farber to continue their partnership and jointly invest in new cancer facilities.

Laurie H. Glimcher, MD, president and CEO of Dana-Farber, said in the announcement cancer care is shifting as the population ages and more younger adults receive diagnoses for more severe illnesses. The inpatient hospital it proposes to build with BIDMC would increase adult patient capacity and enable clinicians to leverage innovations and technology that both Dana-Farber’s and BIDMC’s researchers and clinicians are developing.

The hospital would be located next to existing Dana-Farber and BIDMC facilities in Boston’s Longwood Medical Area.

“Through this collaboration, our patients and their loved ones will benefit tremendously from Dana-Farber’s leading-edge scientific discovery and exceptional patient care. We believe this will position us to provide world renowned cancer treatment in outpatient and inpatient settings well into the future,” Glimcher said.

“Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center and the physicians of HMFP share our vision and are equally committed to ensuring a superior patient experience and advancing a collaborative focus on world-class cancer care and research that will benefit our region and the world,” Glimcher continued.

Boston’s acclaimed healthcare facilities have undergone massive change over the last couple of years as health systems look to compete with Brigham and Women’s Hospital’s parent company Mass General Brigham, formerly Partners Healthcare. Mass General Brigham is Massachusetts’ largest health system and the country’s second-largest recipient of National Institutes of Health research funding, according to the Globe.

However, in 2019, BIDMC merged with Lahey Health to form a 13-hospital system, including four academic and teaching hospitals affiliated with Harvard Medical School and the Tufts University School of Medicine.

The new partnership with Dana-Farber could signal another way Beth Israel Lahey Health is encroaching on the local healthcare market. However, news sources say that Dana-Farber is solely focused on establishing a hospital for adult cancer care as other top cancer-care institutions have in their respective communities.