NYC Proton Center (Consortium)

This forum made possible through the generous support of SDN members, donors, and sponsors. Thank you.

rymd

Full Member
15+ Year Member
Joined
Mar 26, 2009
Messages
71
Reaction score
39
I have several thoughts:

In competitive markets where real estate is extremely expensive, it is very challenging to even find a "spot" for building a cyclotron let alone financing the construction of one. In these scenarios, multi-institutional collaboration makes sense. Regardless, I think this collaboration will still have a rocky road ahead of it because of the perils of collaboration. Who will finance the facility and in what proportion? If you put in more money, does that mean you will have more machine time? Who sets the guidelines for who can be treated? Where will the facility be physically located and will its location favor some partners more than others?

Stanford, UCSF, and Tuoro University tried to build a proton center in Northern California under a similar arrangement. However, it failed due to the issues cited above.

The final (and major) problem is an issue of clinical ethics. Let's be honest, protons are designed to be a $$$ maker. If protons were simply used appropriately (peds, skull base, spine, re-irradiation) then centers would be losing money and venture capitalists wouldn't be tripping over themselves to build them. If you are the single owner of a proton facility, then you have the final say on who gets treated. Let's say you have a multi-institutional ownership and institution #1 is generating tons of revenue by treating pT1c GS 3+3, PSA < 10 prostate cancers. Institution #2 comes along and would like to treat a peds retinoblastoma pt which would reimburse considerably less. Who is the arbiter on who should get treated?

Issues like these makes me think that a successful collaboration is probably unlikely.
 
Smart move. NY health department is doing a good job regulating their cutthroat market.
 
Top