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John W. Mitchell, Senior Correspondent | September 12, 2017
From the September 2017 issue of HealthCare Business News magazine
A regional resource
"What struck me at the time we had the vision for our center was that this would be a $200 million investment and that the literature suggested that 20 to 30 percent of the 60 percent of all cancer patients who get radiation treatment could benefit from proton therapy," William F. Regine, FACRO, FACR, Isadore & Fannie Schneider Foxman Chair in the Department of Radiation Oncology at the University of Maryland, told HCB News.
Dr. Regine is also executive director of the Maryland Proton Treatment Center (MPTC).
"So we thought, why not consider this a regional resource?" he said.
This decision to engage other, competing health systems in the business model, the antithesis of a medical arms race, has made the Maryland Proton Treatment Center a success, according to Regine. They took several, unprecedented steps in organizing their referral and treatment network, as well as relationships with insurance companies that pay the bills.
They began cultivating a referral network well before they opened. Regine explained that MPTC focused on radiation oncologists and invited them to work side by side with their proton medical staff. The Maryland center offered medical staff privileges with accreditation (and provides the training) so doctors from other hospitals could treat their patients and receive the physician payment component from insurance companies.
The visiting physicians get access to Maryland's secure treatment planning system and patient electronic medical record, as well. This effort has resulted in three large health systems referring patients to the center, and an agreement with a fourth large community-based group, as well as ongoing discussions with additional groups expected to also partner with MPTC in the next year.
"The model works," said Dr. Regine. "The visiting physicians who have privileges to treat with proton therapy get paid the same rate as the doctors on my staff."
He said it's also a comfort to patients who don't have to switch doctors to receive proton therapy. Patients, he noted, are much more educated about their options and will sometimes self-refer to MPTC. With the visiting physicians' program, they can often reassure that a radiation oncologist has privileges to administer proton therapy and refer the patient back to their community-based doctor.
