Jones Lang LaSalle

01/31/06
St. Clare's cancer units moving out

Sloan-Kettering to combine services in Somerset
BY MARIA ARMENTAL DAILY RECORD

DOVER -- The Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center plans to consolidate its two outpatient regional centers at St. Clare's hospitals into one free-standing facility now being built in Somerset County.
The two regional centers, in St. Clare's Denville and Dover hospitals, would be relocated to an 85,000-square-foot building in the Basking Ridge section of Bernards Township, with the potential for future expansion, Christine Hickey, spokesperson for Sloan-Kettering, said Monday.
It would remain a strictly outpatient center, Hickey said.
St. Clare's and Sloan-Kettering negotiated in the 1990s a 10-year agreement that will expire in December.
David Lundquist, St. Clare's Health Systems chief operating officer, said hospital officials and representatives from Sloan-Kettering are negotiating possible joint work between Sloan-Kettering and St. Clare's.
"We are in the midst of a transitional discussion," Lundquist said, adding that all the details have not been worked out yet.
"We just know that we will continue to grow our oncology services. As a system, we feel very good (about) our opportunities for the future," Lundquist said.
"Our full intent is to move into the future and create more opportunities in the area of oncology care," he added.
Lundquist declined to comment on the specifics of the discussions or what the hospital plans to do with the space in the two St. Clare's hospitals that the cancer center now occupies.
Memorial Sloan-Kettering at St. Clare's provides chemotherapy, radiation therapy and other oncology services, and has an onsite laboratory to provide pre-treatment blood test results.
Memorial Sloan-Kettering has regional cancer centers based in New Jersey, Long Island and Westchester, in an attempt to offer outpatient oncology services outside of New York City.
The centers are based at other hospitals but staffed by the center, Hickey said.
Lundquist said Sloan-Kettering officials informed St. Clare's at the end of 2005 about their intention to close their regional centers and open their new facility in Basking Ridge.
Since the centers were staffed by Sloan-Kettering, hospital officials don't anticipate the move could translate into job losses.
Hickey said the new facility is expected to open by the fall.
Travel troubles
"About 17 percent of our patients come from New Jersey, and we understand how difficult it can be to travel to Manhattan," Hickey said of the decision to open the outpatient center in New Jersey.
The number of patients using the St. Clare's facilities was unavailable.
The new site is located in the Mountain View Corporate Center, off Route 78, near Routes 287, 202 and 206. Memorial Sloan-Kettering purchased the 25.6-acre parcel in March 2004 and broke ground in the fall of 2004.
St. Clare's also offers its own oncology-related services.
The Denville hospital has an outpatient cancer care center and a 24-bed inpatient cancer care unit. Those provide treatment including chemotherapy, blood transfusions, bone marrow biopsies, and other procedures.
St. Clare's also has mammography programs at its Denville, Dover, and Sussex hospitals.
In addition, all three hospitals offer an extensive list of cancer support groups.

Maria Armental can be reached at (973) 989-0652 or marmental@gannett.com.