PHILADELPHIA, PA (August 20, 2013)—Fox Chase Cancer Center announced today the signing of a formal agreement with Grand View Hospital for the two organizations to enter into a revitalized partnership. The new partnership will offer cancer patients in Upper Bucks and Northeastern Montgomery Counties the best of both worlds—access to nationally recognized specialty cancer care with clinical trials right in their own backyard.
“By having a revitalized partnership with Grand View, I think we can better serve patients from the Sellersville area that may be coming to Fox Chase for a second opinion or a specialized surgery,” says Mark Sobczak, MD, Chief Network Officer for Fox Chase Cancer Center. “We can do this by integrating that process earlier on, working with their referring physicians. For example, a patient can receive an evaluation and specialized treatment at Fox Chase. Then to make it easier, the patient can return to the referring physician and continue with a portion of the treatment at Grand View. Meanwhile, all physicians involved work together, communicating constantly, to ensure the patient receives the best possible care while maximizing the patient’s comfort and convenience.”
“Grand View has always offered top-of-the-line clinical care, while also building relationships of trust with its patients—seeing them through all types of care, from the illnesses of a loved one to the joyfulness of a new baby,” says Jean M. Keeler, JD, President and CEO of Grand View Hospital. “Relationships of trust, like the ones that exist at Grand View, can be very comforting to patients during a cancer diagnosis and treatment.”
Currently, Grand View does an excellent job treating common types of cancer. However, a partnership with an institution like Fox Chase—a nationally recognized comprehensive cancer center—will enhance its cancer program even more by offering expertise on treating more unusual types of cancer. In addition, Fox Chase can provide Grand View patients access to clinical trials involving breakthrough medicine.
“Now that we’re affiliated with Temple University Health System, we have new and expanded programs to offer partners too,” says Sobczak.
Another element of the partnership is the addition of the Fox Chase Cancer Center Partners nurse navigator program, which will begin this fall. “It was really Grand View who challenged us to do even better than we had in the past by bringing to our attention the need for a Partners nurse navigator,” Sobczak added. The Partners nurse navigator will work with physicians and staff at both Fox Chase Cancer Center and Grand View Hospital to help schedule second opinions and coordinate patient care.
“I think that in many cases we learn as much from the hospitals in our Partners Program as we teach,” Sobczak says. “The goal of our program is to work in a cooperative manner with everyone at our partner hospitals to improve programs across the board, often learning ourselves.”