Emory University Hospital Midtown is launching a new comprehensive cancer center. The Peachtree St. facility is designed to improve cancer care and provide new opportunities for cancer research.
The new Winship Cancer Institute includes inpatient and outpatient coordinated care all in one place, which is not typical for most cancer care centers.
It also streamlines the care process by allowing patients to check in just once for multiple appointments, be assigned to one dedicated room, and have most of their doctors, lab technicians, surgeons and other providers come to them instead of patients making multiple trips for care.
The building is the first-of-its kind in Georgia. It’s been in the works for roughly four years.
The design incorporated months of patient input, said cancer expert and Winship Cancer Institute Chief Medical Officer Dr. Sagar Lonial.
“We know that cancer care is often very siloed, that you see one set of doctors and then you go to a different place, you see another set of doctors, and then you go to a different place and see another set of doctors. And so sometimes patients unfortunately get in lots of steps as they’re doing all this work. And our goal was to say, if you were to if you were the patient and wanted the ideal experience, what would it look like? And it would look like a place where you came to one place and all the care came to you.“
Lonial, who is also a professor at Emory University School of Medicine in the Department of Hematology and Medical Oncology, said the planning process for the new Winship building also included focus groups with almost 200 patients and their family members.
The group overwhelmingly wanted a care model that put patients at the center.
“This is a better model from a patient perspective. I think that not having to travel, not having siloed care, anytime you get the care team together in one physical place, and they talk about a given patient, that’s always better for the patient because it’s built-in communication,” Lonial said.
“I’m thinking about research opportunities as well. If you have all these committed people in one space, now they start thinking together, they start working together, and you’ve built in collaborations on the scientific side as well, and we know that’s really what leads to breakthroughs in cancer care.”
The 17-story, energy-efficient $440 million facility is organized by cancer type and houses 80 inpatient beds and six operating rooms, with space to expand.
Winship is offering medical oncology, hematology, surgery and radiation oncology, and integrative medicine programs, including acupuncture and meditation services.
Patients can also access psychiatry, physical therapy, social workers, nutritionists, dermatologists, cardiologists and other specialists who treat particular complications that could stem from cancer treatment.
The facility has a pharmacy and a conference center.
Funding for the new Winship Cancer Institute included $200 million from the Robert Woodruff Foundation.
Emory Midtown is expected to launch the facility with a ribbon cutting ceremony Tuesday, May 2. The building opens to patients May 9.
