Verde Valley News – Northern Arizona Healthcare (NAH) is excited to announce it has entered into a cancer care coordination agreement with City of Hope to help treat complex or rare cases of cancer in northern Arizona. City of Hope is one of the largest cancer research and treatment organizations in the United States.
This new alliance will expand NAH’s services across all of its northern Arizona locations to include consultations and virtual appointments for patients with complex or rare forms of cancer. In this new care coordination agreement, NAH will be able to call upon City of Hope’s national network when NAH patients require specialty treatment or expertise in rarer forms of cancer. In those cases, NAH can engage City of Hope’s providers when deemed necessary, while patients continue treatment with their NAH oncology team after the special oncology needs are addressed with City of Hope’s team.
This model will enable northern Arizona patients to remain closer to home more often, and will allow patients to access specialty oncology services through City of Hope’s providers in the Phoenix metropolitan area without having to leave NAH’s care. For example, a patient seeing an oncology team at NAH would be able to travel to the Phoenix area for a surgery to treat a rare form of cancer and then remain in NAH’s care closer to home for all follow up appointments. In other cases, NAH providers may consult with City of Hope providers regarding the course of care for complex cases of cancer, or patients may access telemedicine appointments with City of Hope, further preventing additional travel away from northern Arizona.
“This new care coordination model opens the doors for increased access to the top tier of cancer treatment experts, while enabling patients to continue the majority, if not all of their care at Northern Arizona Healthcare,” said NAH CEO Dave Cheney. “In this new relationship, we are bringing access to additional expertise for our providers, without having substantial changes in how our patients access their care. We see it as a win-win for our community,” Cheney added.
“This partnership with Northern Arizona Healthcare exemplifies our commitment to serving the greater Arizona Community while keeping as much of the care delivery close to home,” said Kevin Tulipana, D.O., M.S., president of City of Hope Cancer Center Phoenix. “Our collaboration will give the physicians and people of Arizona access to the clinical and scientific expertise and experience, particularly in hematologic malignancy and cellular therapies. Together with NAH, we will make hope a reality for all those touched by cancer.”
NAH providers will continue to offer the services they provide today. This agreement enables providers and patients direct access to new teams of cancer care specialists on top of the care already provided by the Cancer Centers of Northern Arizona Healthcare in Flagstaff, Sedona and Cottonwood.
