Hoag Memorial Hospital Presbyterian and Keck Medicine of the University of Southern California announced a partnership that establishes a new comprehensive cancer and oncology services program for Orange County at Hoag Family Cancer Institute.
Hoag and USC also announced the hiring of Burton L. Eisenberg, M.D., as executive medical director of the cancer program.
Eisenberg, who will be based at Hoag, comes from the Dartmouth-Hitchcock Norris Cotton Cancer Center, where he served as deputy director and associate director of clinical research
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 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. 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.”
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.
For more information, visit hoag.org and keckmedicine.org.
