ChristianaCare’s Helen F. Graham Cancer Center & Research Institute among first in nation to offer primary care onsite to cancer patients
J
ennifer Newman was prepared for the challenges of her cancer diagnosis but losing her primary care provider (PCP) at the same time was not something she planned on.
The new Primary Care Practice builds on the success of the Oncology Express Unit, a pilot program at the Graham Cancer Center offering urgent care to cancer patients in distress during treatment.
“When you are fighting cancer and you find out you don’t have a doctor anymore for everything else, it is overwhelming,” Newman said. “I spent hours calling around to various primary care practices without finding a doctor in my network who was accepting new patients.”
Unique among cancer centers
The Helen F. Graham Cancer Center & Research Institute at ChristianaCare is among the first cancer programs in the nation to offer patients undergoing cancer treatment the opportunity to see a PCP onsite if they don’t already have one of their own. When Newman started treatment with her oncologist at the Graham Cancer Center, she was able to get a referral to the Primary Care Practice right there in the building. “Besides cancer, I have a number of other health concerns that need continued monitoring,” Newman said. “Being able to go to one place for all the care I need has been a godsend.”
“Our ability to offer primary care services to our patients who need them alongside a multidisciplinary roster of cancer services all under one roof is highly unique among major cancer centers,” said Nicholas J. Petrelli, M.D., Bank of America endowed medical director at the Graham Cancer Center. “By adding a primary care provider onsite, we are taking a somewhat novel approach to providing both the latest cancer treatments but also care designed to improve our patients’ long-term health.” Cancer diagnoses often happen unexpectedly, in a specialist’s office or in the Emergency Department, and more than half of patients diagnosed with cancer have other co-morbid conditions, including heart disease, high blood pressure, high cholesterol and diabetes.
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Cancer Update | MAY 2022
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