HOAG AND USC ANNOUNCE PARTNERSHIP ESTABLISHING NEW COMPREHENSIVE CANCER
PROGRAM IN ORANGE COUNTY
Burton L. Eisenberg, M.D., Named Executive Medical Director at Hoag Family
Cancer Institute
Newport Beach, Calif. – (Oct. 21,2013) ) Hoag Memorial Hospital Presbyterian (Hoag) and
Keck Medicine of the University of Southern California (USC) have announced
a partnership that establishes a new comprehensive cancer and
oncology servicesprogram for Orange County at Hoag Family Cancer Institute.
Hoag and USC also announce the hiring of Burton L. Eisenberg, M.D., as
executive medical director of the cancer program. Eisenberg, who will
be based at Hoag and hold the Grace E. Hoag Executive Medical Director
Endowed Chair, comes from the Dartmouth-Hitchcock Norris Cotton Cancer
Center, where he served as deputy director and associate director of clinical
research. An academic medical center, Dartmouth-Hitchcock, located in
Lebanon, N.H., is a national leader in patient-centered health care. The
Norris Cotton Cancer Center is one of only 41 National Cancer Institute-designated
comprehensive cancer centers in the country.
The new Hoag/USC partnership marries Orange County’s largest community
cancer program with the USC Norris Comprehensive Cancer Center, one of
the nation’s premier academic cancer centers. The latest collaboration
between the two leading medical centers promises to enhance patient care
by significantly expanding cancer research and treatment in Orange County.
The announcement comes at a time when national health experts are calling
for improved quality of care for cancer patients. Barriers to achieving
excellent care for such patients remain daunting with demand for cancer
care projected to skyrocket, according to a new report from the Institute
of Medicine in Washington, D.C. The report is available at
http://ow.ly/pxX32.
The report says that by 2022 there will be 18 million
cancer survivors and, by 2030, cancer incidence is expected to rise to 2.3 million new
diagnoses per year. Currently about 14 million people in the U.S. have
had cancer, with more than 1.6 million new cases diagnosed each year.
One of the recommendations in the report, released in September, is shifting
to team-based models of care, similar to the partnership forged by Hoag and USC.
“The implications of this agreement are far-reaching,” said
Jack Cox, M.D., senior vice president and chief quality officer of Hoag.
“We are equally strong partners coming together to deliver
cancer care in a new and different way in Orange County, with the potential to extend
this new delivery model to our St. Joseph Health affiliate partners in
the future.
“By teaming with USC, we will be able to expand our cutting-edge
care by providing patients access to university-based clinical trials,
academic training programs and quaternary care extension.”
The cancer affiliation between Hoag and USC is the latest example of strategic
alignments for Hoag, which formally affiliated earlier this year with
St. Joseph Health to further expand health care services in the Orange
County community.
A graduate of the University of Tennessee College of Medicine in Memphis,
Tenn., Eisenberg will oversee development of infrastructure and standardized
practices for the new program, as well as the identification, recruitment
and retention of outstanding physicians specializing in oncology and oncology
related services.
“The increasing complexities of cancer care delivery as well as complete
care of the cancer patient require a new multidisciplinary approach,”
Eisenberg said. “The Hoag/USC aligned cancer programs will provide
an innovative spectrum of cancer treatment. This includes better access
to new cancer therapies, development of evidence based standardized clinical
pathways and informed cancer research choices that will be transforming
in the years to come.”
Eisenberg’s background as chairman of the department of surgical
oncology at Fox Chase Cancer Center in Philadelphia and deputy director
at Dartmouth-Hitchcock Norris Cotton Cancer Center makes him an important
asset to the new program.
“The Orange County community will benefit from a new, unparalleled
level of cancer care that not only focuses on treating this disease but
also on helping people thrive after treatment,” said Robert Braithwaite,
president and chief executive officer of Hoag. “We are thrilled
to welcome a leader with the pedigree and experience of Dr. Eisenberg
to lead this program.”
Each year, Hoag Family Cancer Institute treats more than 3,000 people
newly diagnosed with cancer, making it the largest cancer program in Orange County. The new partnership
with USC gives Hoag patients access to the most innovative resources available
in cancer care, while providing USC the opportunity to develop the kind
of expertise in community health that has made Hoag a health care leader.
"This partnership is tremendously exciting. We’re joining the
best of academic medicine with the best of private practice, working together
to make sure that the care close to home is the best possible, and also
to ensure that the cutting-edge, advanced care and clinical trials at
USC Norris are also accessible," said Tom Jackiewicz, CEO and senior
vice president of USC Health. "Local is better for the patient, hands
down. This partnership ensures that the best care will be delivered locally
whenever possible, while also offering treatment at Keck Medicine of USC
if needed."
USC Norris Comprehensive Cancer Center provides a full range of oncologic
and hematologic services. Part of Keck Medicine of USC, the cancer center
is one of the first eight comprehensive cancer centers established by
the National Cancer Institute as the result of the National Cancer Act of 1971.
The new cancer and oncology services program at Hoag will include the development
of a local research program and expansion of access to ongoing USC Norris
clinical trials for Hoag patients will occur as the relationship progresses.
"This innovative partnership with the team at USC provides our world-class
Hoag physicians access to more clinical trials, as well as additional
sub-specialty expertise and resources, allowing us to provide a new level
of care to our patients," said Louis VanderMolen, M.D., medical oncologist
at Hoag Family Cancer Institute.
Along with Eisenberg, Hoag and USC announced the appointment of Dori Holnagel,
M.B.A., as executive administrator of Hoag Family Cancer Institute. Prior
to this appointment Holnagel served as executive director of Operations
for Hoag Neurosciences Institute, a position she held since 2007.
The new cancer and oncology services program is the latest – and
undoubtedly the most significant – in a series of successful partnerships
between Hoag and USC aimed at combining the resources and talent of both
respected organizations, which have been collaborating on ways to better
serve the health care needs of the region since 2008.
Hoag Breast Center is the first and only breast center in Orange County
to be designated as a Certified Quality Breast Center of Excellence by
the National Consortium of Breast Centers. The Hoag-USC Surgical Center
for Digestive Diseases is the first comprehensive, multidisciplinary digestive
diseases program of its kind in Orange County, providing a patient-centered,
integrated team approach using the best in evidence-based medicine, progressive
technology and innovative treatment options.
“This builds upon our current relationship with USC, both in our
breast center and the surgical center, in an incredibly meaningful and
tangible way for those in need of cancer care in our community,”
Braithwaite said.
For more information, visit
hoag.org/Specialty/Cancer and
keckmedicine.org.
ABOUT HOAG MEMORIAL HOSPITAL PRESBYTERIAN
Hoag is an approximately $1 billion non-profit, regional health care delivery
network in Orange County, California, that treats nearly 30,000 inpatients
and 350,000 outpatients annually. Hoag consists of two acute-care hospitals,
seven health centers, and five urgent care centers. Hoag Hospital Newport
Beach, which has served Orange County since 1952, and Hoag Hospital Irvine,
which opened in 2010, are designated Magnet hospitals by the American
Nurses Credentialing Center (ANCC). Hoag offers a comprehensive blend
of health care services that includes five institutes providing specialized
services in the following areas:
cancer,
heart and vascular,
neurosciences,women’s health, and orthopedics through Hoag’s affiliate,
Hoag Orthopedic Institute. Hoag has been named one of the Best Regional Hospitals in the U.S. News
& World Report Metro Edition. National Research Corporation has endorsed
Hoag as Orange County’s most preferred hospital for the past 18
consecutive years and, for an unprecedented 18 years, residents of Orange
County have chosen Hoag as the county’s best hospital in a local
newspaper survey. Visit
www.hoag.org for more information.
ABOUT KECK MEDICINE OF USC
Keck Medicine of USC is the University of Southern California's medical
enterprise, one of only two university-owned academic medical centers
in the Los Angeles area. Encompassing academic, research and clinical
entities, it consists of the Keck School of Medicine of USC, one of the
top medical schools in Southern California; the renowned USC Norris Comprehensive
Cancer Center, one of the first comprehensive cancer centers established
in the United States; the USC Care faculty practice; the Keck Medical
Center of USC, which includes two acute care hospitals: 411-bed Keck Hospital
of USC and 60-bed USC Norris Cancer Hospital; and USC Verdugo Hills Hospital,
a 158-bed community hospital. It also includes outpatient facilities in
Beverly Hills, downtown Los Angeles, La Cañada Flintridge, Pasadena,
and the USC University Park Campus. USC faculty physicians and Keck School
of Medicine departments also have practices throughout Los Angeles, Orange
and Riverside counties. For more information, go to
www.keckmedicine.org.