Lifespan, Dana-Farber Cancer Institute form alliance to further cancer treatment and research

LIFESPAN CEO Timothy Babineau said,
LIFESPAN CEO Timothy Babineau said, "We have submitted what we think is a very compelling, visionary and fair-minded proposal to Care New England." / COURTESY LIFESPAN

PROVIDENCE – The leadership of Lifespan and the Dana-Farber Cancer Institute, based in Boston, announced on Tuesday a new strategic alliance to advance cancer treatment and research.

The alliance will support the expansion of shared clinical trials, offer Lifespan physicians access to Dana-Farber’s cancer-specific disease expertise for complex cancers and ensure that bone marrow transplant patients receive more coordinated medical treatment.

Approximately 40 to 60 patients in Rhode Island, said Dr. David Wazer, director of the Lifespan Cancer Institute, each year are affected by bone marrow transplants. Although Lifespan, which does not have a bone marrow transplant facility, currently cares for such patients, Wazer emphasized that the two systems seek to better integrate the care involved with the transplant, which involves a very limited period of care – provided by Dana-Farber – and the care pre- and post-transplant, which goes on for years – provided by Lifespan.

“This [integrated treatment] could not have occurred without affiliation … [there’s a] great deal of training back and forth to understand processes and protocols in caring for patients,” Wazer said.

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Moreover, both he and Dr. Timothy Babineau, president and CEO of Lifespan, emphasized the need to have the two hospital systems’ separate and unique Epic software systems – including patients’ electronic medical records – working together.

Although Lifespan Cancer Center cares for nearly 4,000 new cancer patients each year and, as such, provides the majority of cancer care in the state, said Babineau, patients who come to the Lifespan Cancer Center will receive the vast majority of their care locally by Lifespan’s team of experts. For those rare cancers, for which Dana-Farber, but not Lifespan, offers treatment, Babineau added, “We can coordinate that care in a more seamless and integrated way that is less frustrating and scary for patients.”

One collaboration, already underway, will address the special challenges associated with very young women with breast cancer diagnoses.

Dr. Rochelle Stringer, a Lifespan Cancer Institute physician who practices at Rhode Island and The Miriam hospitals, and Dr. Ann Partridge, a physician at Dana-Farber and an international authority on young women with breast cancer, are working together to identify what each institution offers to make sure that patients get the best care, said Wazer.

“Ensuring that patients, no matter where they live, get the best cancer care possible is at the core of Dana-Farber’s mission,” Dr. Laurie Glimcher, president and CEO of Dana-Farber Cancer Institute, said in the joint statement. “It is a goal we share with Lifespan, and we are excited about the opportunities this relationship will provide for the people of Rhode Island and beyond.”

Although the list of clinical trial subjects on which the hospitals seek to collaborate is extensive, Wazer said they will initially focus on lymphoma and leukemia, breast, gastroenterological, lung and genitourinary cancers.

Emphasizing that this is a two-way relationship, Wazer said that Dana-Farber is excited about having access to Lifespan’s clinical trials and some of its research here, especially in Lifespan’s research strengths, such as on population health disparities and genomics.

Babineau noted that, as clinical trials become more sophisticated and patients’ eligibility to participate becomes more precise, Lifespan’s catchment population of 1.5 million individuals offers Dana-Farber the opportunity to extend its clinical trials to this market, with a goal of “finding the needle in the haystack for that particular trial.”

In response to a question from Providence Business News, Babineau said that today’s Memorandum of Understanding executed by the two health care entities “is significant in and of itself … This should not be viewed as a precursor to a merger. The MOU is a broad agreement allowing us to explore new models for cancer patients.”

Asked about the timing of this agreement, Wazer explained, “I was personally very motivated by [then-] Vice President [Joseph] Biden’s Cancer Moonshot initiative. To accelerate research and care and programs, we need to perform new partnerships; this is the strategic impetus for us … and I firmly believe it also motivates the folks at Dana-Farber.”

Discussions between the two health care systems about how to provide better cancer care for patients – which led to the MOU – have been ongoing for more than a year, said Babineau, who noted that the MOU’s terms are confidential.

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