Allegheny Health Network and Highmark are partnering to invest $200 million in a 50,000 square-foot academic cancer center on the North Side and satellite cancer care offices throughout the region.
Allegheny General Hospital president Jeff Cohen said the satellite centers are meant to improve access and make health care more affordable and convenient for patients.
“The modern era of health care is not about building more beds to put patients in, it’s about getting them back to the safest bed they have, which is their own,” Cohen said. “So how do we deliver care and keep people in their beds, in their communities as close to home as possible?”
Highmark President and CEO David Holmberg said they are still finalizing the locations for the satellite sites, but he expects both those offices and the dedicated cancer center to be up and running within two years.
AHN representatives said the centers will also strengthen the network's partnership with Johns Hopkins Medicine, which provides remote consultation and second opinions, among other services, to cancer patients.
The partnership will offer access to more than 600 clinical trials conducted by Johns Hopkins and Allegheny Health Network researchers.
Paul Rothman, CEO of Johns Hopkins Medicine, said Pittsburgh patients will also have increased access to cutting edge cancer-fighting technology such as genetic sequencing and proton therapy.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
