MDNews - Greater Boston

COVER FEATURE John Yang, MD The Saint Anne's Hospital Regional Cancer Center Saint Anne's Hospital and Hawthorn Medical Associates Join as One Regional Center Raymond Dugal, MD John Niedzwicki, MD, PhD Elliott Anderson, MD 6 | Greater Boston MD NEWS I MDNEWS.COM S AINT ANNE'S HOSPITAL , a Steward Family Hospital and provider of comprehensive community cancer care in southeastern Massachusetts since 1976, and Hawthorn Oncology Center, an outpatient cancer center with more than two decades of medical oncology care in Greater New Bedford, combined services this past spring to become the Saint Anne's Hospital Regional Cancer Center. By adding Hawthorn's medical oncology program to Saint Anne's radiation oncology service in Dartmouth and the hospital's Hudner Oncology Center in Fall River, the cancer program now offers patients access to comprehensive, integrated and coordinated community cancer care in a greater geographic area. To find out more about this expanded program, MD News recently spoke with John Yang, MD, and Raymond Dugal, MD — Saint Anne's medical oncology and radiation oncology physician leaders — as well as John Niedzwicki, MD, PhD, and Elliott Anderson, MD, of the Dartmouth site's medical oncology team. Hawthorn Oncology Center and Saint Anne's Hospital have provided the area's most established cancer care programs in the region for many years. Why did you decide to combine them? Dr. Yang: There are many practical reasons, such as sharing of resources, streamlining referrals and reducing unnecessary duplication of services. Most importantly, though, it greatly benefits patients. As members of the Steward Health Care Network, we now provide truly collaborative cancer care throughout a wider geographic area. Our combined team of 10 physicians specializing in radiation oncology and medical oncology-hematology works closely with a growing number of surgical and medical specialists in our network, such as thoracic surgeons and pulmonologists, plus specialists in medical physics, advanced diagnostics and oncology nursing. Moreover, patient and family support services — one of Saint Anne's hallmarks — are now available to a greater number of patients across the region.

• Cover